Flickering Flames of Betrayal
by Andril
Summary: Framed for a crime he didn't commit, his entire guild turned against him, Natsu is sent to a council jail for the rest of his life. What will happen when Crime Sorciere finds the truth. I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters. M for a reason.
1. Chapter 1

The sun shone down on Magnolia on a fine summer's morning as Natsu strode towards the guild. All was right with the world. It had been a few months since Fairy Tail had won the Grand Magic Games and stopped the dragon apocalypse. Fairy Tail was on the rise, getting their old guild hall back, earning their prestige back, and best of all were the missions. Hundreds of missions flowed in from the people of Fiore for the top guild and Natsu and his team were never without work.

Natsu grinned as he thought about all the good things that had happened over the past few months. He grinned even harder at all the good things that had happened last night. Lucy had finally given in and agreed to go on a date with him. He wasn't even mad when Happy asked him as he walked and Happy flew, "Natsu, why do you have to date Lucy? She's really weird, and she hardly ever gives me fish."

Natsu gave him a sly look, "Why do you want to date Carla? She's mean to you and she doesn't even like fish."

Happy let the wings on his back dispel and he dropped down from where he was flying to perch on Natsu's head, "But why can't I come on the date? I bet they're fun."

Natsu chuckled, "Sorry buddy. If you came then I don't think Lucy would ever go out on a date with me again."

The cat said from atop his head, "That's because she would see cats are the best and not want anything to do with you."

Natsu grinned as they happily bickered all the way to the guild hall. Natsu couldn't wait to see Lucy and go out on a mission with her, and then come back and go out on a date. The dragon slayer was mildly nervous about the date, but decided that he'd treat it like he would a battle and just make it up as he went along.

He arrived at the guild and kicked open the doors shouting, "Guess what guys! I have great news!"

All eyes turned on him, but it wasn't in the way he expected. Instead of curious and amused expressions, there were expressions of hurt, anger, and betrayal. Two peoples expressions stood out however, Lahar and Doranbolt, stood in the center of Fairy Tail and had been talking to Erza and Gray. When he entered they both turned to give him cold looks. Natsu said, "What's wrong guys?"

Nobody answered him, but the answer came when Lahar stepped forward and said, "Natsu Dragneel, you're under arrest for the murder of Lucy Heartfilia."

Natsu felt his jaw drop, and he felt Happy's tiny jaw drop on top of his head. He shouted, "What the hell guys, this isn't funny!"

He stood frozen in the doorway as Lahar and Doranbolt came and put magic restraining cuffs on him. He shouted at Erza, "What the hell is happening!"

She blurred forward and suddenly had a sword to his throat, "You happened Natsu! Lucy is dead and you killed her!"

Natsu wouldn't accept it, "No, I just saw her last night. She was fine!"

Erza shook with rage, "Her house burned down in the middle of the night with her in it. All that they found were her bones and her diary that she put a fireproof enchantment on. That diary tells a lot. She wrote all about how you've been pursuing her and making indecent advances on her that she had to keep rejecting. The last page says that you finally threatened her if she didn't date you and she said no again. She wrote that she was scared you were going to do something to hurt her, but that she trusted you because you were her teammate and best friend!"

Her voice had risen to a shout as she'd said the words and Natsu's face had slowly turned a pale ashen color. He started mumbling, "No, no, no, this is wrong. I love Lucy. She finally agreed to date me last night."

Erza hissed at him, "Liar! I am ashamed to have called you a friend! Lahar, Doranbolt, take him out of here!"

Natsu felt himself go limp as they dragged him out of the guild. He suddenly remembered Happy on his head and said, "Happy, go back to the guild. Don't come to prison with me."

Happy flew down in front of him with tears in his eyes, "I know you didn't kill Lucy! You were with me all night!"

Lahar said stoically, "The words of an Exceed won't count in a court of law. The evidence is stacked up against Natsu, and as much as I hate to say it, it looks like Natsu did it. You used to be a good person Natsu, but even if you saved the world we can't let you do anything you want."

Natsu said to his buddy, "Go on back Happy, try and clear my name. Try and convince them that I didn't kill Lucy!"

His little friend flew back to the guild, leaving a steady trail of falling teardrops in his wake. Lahar and Doranbolt hauled him into a council carried and threw him down on one side, sitting down on the other. It was at this moment that everything really hit Natsu.

His best friend, the girl he loved and might have spent his life with, was dead. His entire family thought that he had killed her. He lay bonelessly on the carriage seat, his motion sickness not even bothering him because the emotional pain was too great right now. He felt tears slip from his eyes and run down his face. Luckily for him though, the physical pain of motion sickness became too much and caused him to pass out sometime during the ride, so he didn't have to think for too long.

* * *

><p>He awoke in one of the council's prison cells. He could smell its dank mustiness permeating the air. The stone walls seemed to close in around him as his head spun. He could still barely comprehend everything that had happened during the short day. Lucy was dead. His Lucy was dead, and everyone thought that he had killed her. He almost laughed, the notion was so ridiculous. But he couldn't laugh, because Lucy was dead, and his family had deserted him.<p>

He sat listlessly in the cell, waiting for whatever came next. It took them three days to come for him, three days without food and with only a small glass of water every day. He was sore from sleeping on the stone floor and he was practically starving. But, he didn't move when they came and lifted him up to take him away. He didn't care where they took him, because it didn't matter anymore, nothing much really mattered anymore.

He sat through the trial, not really paying attention. Not that he normally would have paid attention to a trial, but this time he was on trial. He thought bitterly, 'It won't matter if I pay attention. They think I killed her and nothing will change it.'

He could see his guild as he looked out over the audience. Fairy Tail had come to see justice done for one fallen friend, and justice done upon another. They got what they wanted. It took only an hour of deliberation before the magic council pronounced him guilty, and sentenced him to life in prison. As the Rune Knights hauled him off he finally looked at his former guild, just to see if there was any sign of sympathy or understanding from them.

The only friendly look he got was from Happy, who was perched atop Wendy's head, being consoled by Carla. The rest of the guild was cold. Erza and Gray glared furiously at him. He could see Erza's fingers twitching on the sword she held and knew that she was barely holding herself back from hopping the barrier and attacking. He laughed at that bitterly, surprising the entire hall. Gray shouted at him, "What are you laughing at?"

He replied easily, "I'm laughing at you ice princess. I'm laughing at the guild. It isn't Fairy Tail anymore. Fairy Tail wouldn't abandon me without a second thought. Fairy Tail would have fought for me. They would have searched the ends of the earth to exonerate me, because I'm innocent. I didn't kill Lucy, the most important person in my life. Fairy Tail would find a way to prove that."

The entire guild sat silent.

They dragged him away, not back to the dank prison cell, but too a different place this time. It was a large tower, and when he stepped inside he could see all the way to the top. There were stairs and pathways that led up, and in between these stairs and pathways floated large golden orbs, with people inside of them. Lahar explained as they dragged him towards one, "These cells won't let you use magic inside of them at all. We'll feed you twice a day, and you have as much time to think about what you've done as you want. Pretty much for the rest of your life."

Lahar undid his magic restraining cuffs, and in the one moment he could have attacked, tried to escape, done anything, he didn't act. He didn't believe that he deserved to be punished. In fact, he wanted desperately to go out and search for the real killer. He knew though, that trying to escape would do him no good. Fairy Tail would come after him and he thought wryly, 'I'm fairly sure Gildarts would kick my ass. Then Laxus, and then Erza. Well, since they betrayed me, it's their problem now; I'm no longer a part of Fairy Tail.'

* * *

><p>Six months passed and prison, thought Natsu, wasn't so bad. He had convinced the guards to bring him a set of weights after a few months of good behavior and those weights became the center of his life. They took up more than half of his space in the golden orb, but he didn't really mind. It gave him something to focus on during the endless monotonous days in prison. He was slowly working his way up to being able to do a thousand push ups with the heaviest weights on his back.<p>

This was what Natsu's days consisted of. Wake up, eat, exercise, nap, try and think then realize thinking is useless, exercise, eat, exercise, sleep. Natsu was physically in the best shape of his life. Emotionally though, he was still a wreck. He had nightmares every night. Sometimes it was of Lucy, in the middle of her burning house, giving him an empty stare and asking, "Why?"

Other times it was his former guild mates, staring at him silently in judgment. He didn't mind those as much, he knew that he didn't kill Lucy, so their judgment didn't mean anything to him anymore. He did hate the ones about Lucy though. She was dead, and he hadn't been there to protect her, like he had so many times before.

This was his life six months into his life sentence. Six months and a day into his life sentence, his life changed drastically. He was doing the usual; a couple hundred sit ups just to pass the time, when he heard a huge explosion echo throughout the tower. He immediately tossed the weights off of him and stood up. He calmly wrapped his scarf around his neck, they'd let him keep that, as he walked over to the side of the orb and looked down.

Unfortunately, someone else's prison cell was in his way. He yelled down, "Cobra! What the hell is going on?"

The poison dragon slayer that he'd helped put in prison yelled back, "Looks like a prison break, I wonder who they're here for."

Natsu snorted and then stepped back from the edge. He thought, 'Eh, nobody's going to break me out so I'll have a nap.'

He lay back next to the weight set and shut his eyes. He could hear the sounds of battle coming from all around but he paid it no mind. He tried to sleep but the battle was coming closer to him. He groaned and shut his eyes tighter, hoping that somehow it might help him pass out. He was surprised when his prison orb shook and one of the guards was flung into his cell. He literally was flung into it, anyone could get in from the outside, but only with the assistance of a special lacrima could one get out.

Natsu grimaced and rolled over onto his side to glare at the guard, "Hey man, I'm trying to take a nap."

The guard looked at him fearfully, "Please don't kill me! I don't have a lacrima and I can't get out!"

Natsu shrugged, "I don't kill people."

He was about to roll back over when he heard a familiar male voice say, "I know."

He looked up in utter shock to see Jellal and Meredy standing outside of his prison cell. He said, "What the hell are you two doing here!"

Jellal grinned at him, "Were breaking you out." He tossed a small object at Natsu and he caught it on reflex. It was the lacrima that would set him free. He looked sharply at Jellal, "You know that if you do this, Fairy Tail will hunt me down. They'll hunt you down. Erza, will hunt you down."

Jellal grimaced but said, "I know. But, I can't let you rot in here now that I know you're innocent."

Natsu gave him a wry look, "I told everyone that I was innocent, but no one believed me. What's changed?"

Jellal said, "Later, just come with us now."

Meredy chimed in, "Please Natsu, there's not much time before stronger wizards arrive."

Natsu made a snap decision. He jumped up next to the guard who was staring at him frozen and said, "Sorry Jim, but I'm out of here."

He strode forward and out of the orb. It was like stepping into the light after being blind. He could feel his magic again. A grin spread slowly over his face and he shouted, "I'm all fired up!"

Jellal quirked, "Alright good, now let's get out of here."

Natsu followed Jellal and Meredy down the stairs and out of the tower. He could hear the other prisoners yelling at him to take them with him but he just shouted back, "I'm innocent! And I put half of you guys here in the first place!"

A few moments later they burst outside and actual sunlight hit Natsu's eyes. It took him a moment to adjust but when he did he saw three figures standing in front of him. Erza, Lahar, and Doranbolt stared at the three with wide eyes. Erza shouted, "What the hell is happening here Jellal!"

Jellal grated out, "We're taking Natsu out of here. What are you doing here Erza?"

The scarlet haired woman requiped a sword into her hand and said, "I came to see if Natsu was repentant of his crime. Obviously he's not."

Natsu shouted, "I didn't kill Lucy!"

Erza shouted back, "Lies! She didn't love you like you wanted and you couldn't handle it! You burned her house down in a rage!"

Natsu said quietly, "Does that even sound like me Erza?"

She said equally as quietly as she raised her sword and settled into a battle stance, "You are a person guided by your emotions. If rage and heartbreak were those emotions, then you could do it."

Natsu felt like she'd already pierced his heart with her sword and said, "Then you really don't know me Erza. All those years as friends, all those times I've been at your side, you can't give me the benefit of the doubt. I guess you really aren't my comrade."

He ignited his fist and moved to attack but Jellal quickly laid a hand on his shoulder, "Let me take Erza. It's been six months since you've had a battle and Erza will be too much for you."

Natsu grated out, "Fine."

He and Jellal switched places and he could hear Jellal trying to reason with Erza. He stood next to Meredy and said to Lahar and Doranbolt, "Alright, which one of you wants me."

He could see both of them open their mouths to answer but he answered for them by shouting, "**Roar of the Fire Dragon!**" A huge torrent of flame roared out and washed over both of the Rune Knights. They were blown back into some trees and knocked out in an instant. Natsu grimaced and said to Meredy, "I hate having to do that. They're actually pretty nice guys."

She patted him on the back and said, "I know what you mean, but sometimes you have to break a few laws to do something good."

He nodded grudgingly and they both turned to see Erza and Jellal looked in battle. Natsu said to the pink haired woman beside her, "I feel badly for Jellal. This will kill his chances with Erza."

Meredy smiled at him, "Jellal loves Erza, but he knows that she's in the wrong, and he can't allow an innocent man to rot in jail."

He grinned back at her, "Thanks. How did you figure out I was innocent though?"

Before she could say anything there was an explosion and when the dust cleared they saw Jellal standing over Erza, panting heavily. They both ran up to him, their conversation forgotten. Erza was lying defeated on the ground, but not unconscious. Jellal was saying, "Please Erza, he's innocent. You have to believe me."

She spat at him, "No. That diary we found was in Lucy's own hand. She said herself she was afraid of Natsu and what he would do. He said himself that he was at her house that night. Her house burned Jellal. That fire was so hot her bones were nearly ash when we found them. You've seen Natsu in a rage, you've felt his fire, and it was that kind of fire that burned Lucy to death!"

Jellal yelled at her, "I thought so too at the time! Everybody did! But I looked for something, anything that would prove him innocent! And you know what? I found it! The entire thing was set up by a Dark Guild, to get revenge on Natsu for something. I found dozens of diaries just like the one you found when we destroyed their guild! They had been practicing, so that they could get Lucy's handwriting perfect and plant the incriminating evidence. I went out and found something to exonerate Natsu, while you believed every single one of their lies. The council won't take evidence that we found though, so we're breaking Natsu out."

She looked aghast and started muttering, "No. That can't be true."

Jellal drove his fist into the ground next to her head and hissed, "You're not who I thought you were Erza. The Erza I know would fight for her comrades. She would have gone to the ends of the earth to prove Natsu was innocent. How can I love you when you can throw away your love for Natsu so easily?"

There were tears streaming down Erza's face as she whispered, "Jellal…"

He said coldly, "No. Crime Sorciere is done with Fairy Tail, and I'm done with you."

He straightened up and looked over at Natsu and Meredys shocked faces, "Come. We should leave before more of them show up."

He set off away from the tower and after a moment Meredy followed him. Natsu glanced down at Erza who was staring at Jellal's back with tears streaming down her face. He set off after Jellal, not once looking back at Erza lying in the dirt.


	2. Chapter 2

It took two weeks of traveling through dense forest and rough terrain for Natsu, Jellal, and Meredy to reach Crime Sorciere's hideout. They would have made it in half the time but had been forced to backtrack many times due to the council's Rune Knights hunting them. Luckily though, they had been able to avoid them without a fight and Natsu was now standing at the edge of the swamp that held Crime Sorciere's hideout.

"Really? Your hideout is in the middle of a swamp?"

Meredy smiled at him, "Not quite." She took her backpack off and rummaged through it before pulling something out. She looked at him seriously this time, "Are you truly done with Fairy Tail?"

Natsu nodded, not wanting to vocalize the fact that his home had abandoned him. She held up the item she'd pulled out and showed him the guild stamp in her hand, "Since Ultear vanished after the Grand Magic Games, Jellal and I have been run ragged trying to do everything. We'd like you to join Crime Sorciere, but we understand if you want to find your own way and do something else."

Natsu thought about it for an uncharacteristically long time. He turned his head to look at the nasty swamp and then turned it the other direction to stare out at the expanse of the land. The swamp actually started at a rise in the landscape before dipping down so when Natsu turned away from it he could see a good distance. A huge forest dominated his sight, making him nostalgic for his old run down shack, with all of its mementos. It also made him miss Happy, but Natsu knew that he couldn't go back for his little blue friend. He wasn't cut out for life on the run, and just maybe he'd convince someone of Natsu's innocence.

He looked back to where Meredy stood next to Jellal and gave a small, sad smile, "I'd like that. It will be the clean slate I need."

Meredy gave a brighter smile than he'd given her and stepped closer to him, holding up the stamp and asking, "Where do you want your mark?"

He almost turned instinctively to present his right shoulder, where his old Fairy Tail mark had been before being wiped away, but though better of it. Instead he turned around and shrugged his vest off saying, "Between my shoulder blades."

He was looking back at the landscape when he felt the cold tingle of the stamp between his shoulder blades. When he felt the pink haired girl pull it away he put his vest back on and turned around, only to get a rude shock. Jellal and Meredy were no longer standing in front of a swamp but were instead standing in front of a small castle. It had walls around it with the gate standing wide open. Two towers jutted out from the front of it, rising into the sky. Meredy was laughing at the shocked look on his face and even Jellal cracked a grin after his grim silence throughout their journey.

Meredy explained, "When we found the castle it was inhabited by a nasty dark guild. We cleaned them out and then made it our headquarters, but it was a bit conspicuous, so we cast an illusion on it. Anyone without a Crime Sorciere mark will only see a swamp. If anyone walks into the swamp without holding on to someone with the Crime Sorciere mark, they're teleported to the other side of the castle without knowing it and find themselves walking out of the other side of a swamp."

Natsu grinned, "Seems like a perfect place to hide out."

Jellal beckoned him forward and started walking towards the castle saying, "Come on, let's go get you set up."

He followed both of them through the wide open gate and into the small castle courtyard. A small stone path led to the front doors of the castle proper. There were small tree's interspersed throughout, shading the courtyard from the late afternoon sun overhead. They walked down the path and through the doors of the castle into a small anteroom. There were three openings that led off to different parts of the castle. Jellal pointed to each of the doorways in turn saying, "Off to the right are the living quarters in one of the towers, straight ahead are things like the kitchen and training areas, and to the left are offices and some rooms for relaxation. We'll take you to your room and you can get settled in."

Natsu nodded and followed them through the right doorway and into a short hallway. The hallway led to the bottom of a spiral staircase that went up into the tower. As he followed Meredy and Jellal they told him what each of the fllors that they passed on the way up were. The bottommost floor was Jellal's living quarters, the middle floor was Meredy's, and as they reached the top the blue haired man said, "This one is yours Natsu."

He pushed open the door and they all stepped inside. Natsu gaped at the sight before him. The center of the room was dominated by a king sized bed. A door led off to what he assumed was the washroom. A large window was set in the east wall, in the perfect spot to let the new light of the day in. On the opposite wall, in the perfect spot to be lit by the window, stood something that Natsu thought he would never see again. The board where he pinned all of his completed job requests had been put up on the wall, with all of the requests still on it. A cabinet stood next to it with all of the mementos he'd picked up over the years on it. In the corner was the mannequin that held Lucy's maid outfit from their first mission together.

Meredy said quietly, "We figured that even though you're done with Fairy Tail, there are still good memories there. Plus, we figured you'd settle in better if it was just a bit more like home."

Natsu breathed, "But how did you get it here?"

Jellal laughed, "It wasn't too hard. Once we had the evidence that exonerated you and came up with our plan, we figured you'd accept our offer to join Crime Sorciere. So, we went to your house, which has been abandoned ever since you went to prison, and moved all of your stuff in here before breaking you out."

Natsu smiled at them both, "Thanks guys, this means a lot."

Meredy grinned at him, "Good. We had to move out all of Ultear's things…" There was a hitch in her voice as she said this. Her smile disappeared and her eyes became watery. The pink haired girl abruptly turned and walked out of the room and Natsu could hear quiet sobs as she hurried down the stairs and the slam of the door that indicated she'd gone into her room.

He looked at Jellal questioningly and the man said, "It's been a year but she's still really torn up about Ultear's disappearance after the Grand Magic Games. It will take a while for her to get used to you replacing Ultear. She was pretty much all Meredy had before Crime Sorciere, and Crime Sorciere really isn't much."

Natsu nodded, "I got it. I'll let her be for a while."

Jellal shrugged, "If you ask me, she doesn't need to be alone. We're friends but… I know I'm not the most inviting person. If I tried I'd probably only end up making it worse."

The pink haired man laughed bitterly, "I think we could all use a little bit of comforting at the moment. I doubt you're in the best frame of mind after that fight with Erza."

Jellal grimaced, "You're right, but I've been dealing with things on my own for most of my life. I'll go and brood for a while, then take out my frustrations on a dark guild. Meredy has been leaning on Ultear her whole life, and without someone to lean on she doesn't really have a way to deal."

Natsu grumbled, "Why am I always the strong one in a crisis."

The blue haired man walked over to him and clapped him on the back saying, "That's because nothing really fazes you Natsu. You pretty much blow through any crisis like a… well like a dragon. You don't break down; you break down the crisis, and then bring up everybody around you."

Natsu laughed, "Well, when you put it like that, how can I say no."

Jellal grinned at him and then the tattooed man walked out of the room saying, "When you've cheered her up, come find me, I can give you all the information on the dark guild that framed you."

Natsu didn't respond as Jellal left and closed the door behind him. He sighed and then walked over to the bed to flop down on it. He groaned a muttered out loud, "I really just want to go hit something. Cheering up girls isn't my strong suit. Lucy usually just kicked my ass for doing stupid things, although that did make her feel better."

He glanced at the mannequin in the corner and then got up and walked over to it. He put his nose to the shoulder and took a deep whiff, hoping to catch Lucy's lingering scent after almost eight years. He wasn't rewarded with it, only the scents of Happy and his filthy old shack. He stepped back and sighed, 'It's just not meant to be.'

He shook his head and slapped his face a few times, "Alright time for some cheering up."

Natsu walked over to the door and opened it, stepping through and giving one last lingering look at his wall of treasures. He smiled, thinking about all the good memories that it brought him, and then closed the door. The stone walls of the spiral staircase were bare as he padded down the stairs towards Meredy's room. He came up to her door and could smell the salty scent of tears coming from her room.

He knocked on her door softly and then opened it without waiting for an answer. He wasn't surprised when a pillow hit his face as soon as he stepped into the room. He was surprised when the force of it knocked him on his ass. He looked up at Meredy and grinned, "That might actually leave a bruise."

He could see her puffy red eyes as she clutched another pillow in her arms. She said shortly, "What do you want Natsu?"

He smiled at her from his position on the floor, "When someone is sad I try and cheer them up."

She groaned, "Jellal put you up to this didn't he."

He stood up and rubbed his head with a guilty laugh, "You caught us. He really is worried, but he has his own issues to deal with at the moment."

Meredy gave him a pointed look, "And you don't? We just broke you out of jail. You just became one of the most wanted fugitives in Fiore. You've completely abandoned the only home you knew. Your best friend and would be girlfriends murder that was pinned on you is the reason for all this. You've got more issues than me or Jellal."

Natsu went over and sat down next to her on the bed with a sigh, "Well when you put it like that…"

She said gently, "I'm sorry to bring all that up."

He shook his head and slung an arm around her to pull her in for a hug, making her yelp. He grinned down at her, "I am going to deal with all that by bringing down a massive amount of hurt on anyone and everyone involved with that. I have a plan. Now we get to deal with what's got you down."

The pink haired girl groaned and pushed him away saying, "I'll be fine Natsu, just go away."

Her push had been a bit stronger than intended and Natsu actually fell off the bed in a heap. He leapt up with a grin, "Nope. You invited me into this guild, so you get to deal with me cheering you up."

A grin slowly spread over her face as she picked up a pillow and said, "I know how to use this, if you don't want me to kick your ass you'd better leave right now."

He picked up the one she'd thrown at him earlier and said, "Bring it, nobody beats me in a pillow fight! I'm all fired up!"

Twenty minutes later laughter echoed throughout Meredy's room and up and down the tower. Both pink haired mages were lying on their backs on Meredy's bed with the tattered remains of their pillows clutched in their hands. Natsu gasped out, "Alright, alright, you win. I give up."

Meredy rolled onto her side and grinned down at him, "Told you. I used to have pillow fights with Ultear all the time. It was how we made up after a fight."

The pink haired girl rolled back onto her back with a sigh, "I miss her so much. It's just not the same without her."

Natsu rolled over onto his side and propped his head up on his hand, "I know what you mean. I never told anyone this, but I used to make Lucy mad on purpose whenever she was down. She'd chase me around the guild or her apartment and when she caught me she'd give me one of her patented Lucy kicks. Even though they really hurt she always forgot about whatever made her sad and she cheered up."

Meredy smiled up at him, "So you let me kick your ass just to cheer me up?"

The dragon slayer grinned down at her, "I didn't let you kick my ass. I just wasn't fired up enough."

She gave him a mock glare while saying, "Well get fired up enough. That half assed effort wasn't nearly enough to cheer me up!"

Natsu collapsed next to her then, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her into his body. He buried his face in her thick pink hair and murmured in a sleepy voice, "Alright, let me take a nap and I'll be fired up enough to take on twelve dark guilds."

The pink haired girl tried to wiggle out of his iron grip but couldn't. She said indignantly, "Well let me go while you do it!"

However, the dragon slayer was too far gone and muttered almost incoherently, "But Lucy, I always sleep better in your bed. Don't kick me out of it just yet."

Meredy stopped squirming and let him pull her tighter too him and wiggle his face until he found the perfect spot to rest it in the crook of her neck. The last thing he heard before falling asleep was her voice saying, "Alright Natsu, you can stay here."

* * *

><p>The next morning Natsu woke up and was instantly confused. His arms were wrapped around someone. His face was buried in her hair. His body was screaming at him that Lucy was back in his arms and that the past six months were just a bad dream. But his nose didn't lie to him. Lucy's familiar scent of vanilla and cinnamon was nowhere. Instead the scent of wild clover and a summer rainstorm invaded his nose.<p>

He swiftly let go of whoever he was holding onto to and sat up, rubbing his eyes. The bed moved slightly and he looked down to see Meredy was rolling over and also rubbing her eyes. He was shocked until his waking brain caught up with his body and he remembered last night. Meredy opened her eyes and also looked surprised to see him in her bed. A moment later though, he saw the understanding flow into her eyes and she said brightly, "Good morning Natsu."

He smiled at her and said, "Morning. Man, I really didn't mean to sleep all night down here."

She sat up next to him and said, "Well, it's been a hard two weeks, I guess both of us really needed the rest. Speaking of which, that was the best I've slept in a really long time."

Natsu laughed, "Me too. I always did sleep better with Lucy in her bed."

The pink haired girl deadpanned, "Maybe that's because you normally slept in a hammock and a bed is 100 times more comfortable than a hammock."

Natsu got a thoughtful look on his face, "Hmmm… You might be onto something there." He thought about it for a moment longer before saying, "Nah. It was definitely Lucy."

Meredy said dryly, "Well, I'm not Lucy."

Natsu sighed, "No you're not. But, thanks for not kicking me out all the same. It's been six months since I've slept without nightmares."

The girl finally smiled at him, "You're welcome Natsu. Thank you for cheering me up yesterday, I know you didn't have to."

Natsu laughed again, "Of course I did. We're friends right?"

Meredy laughed as well, "Of course. If we weren't friends we probably would have left you in jail, and I definitely would have kicked you out of my bed. Which, by the way, I'm doing now. I need a bath."

Natsu hopped out of the bed and walked to the door saying, "Alright. It's probably a good idea for me to do the same. After that I'm going to hunt up some food."

Meredy said as she walked into her washroom, "There's probably not much in the kitchen since we haven't been here for a few weeks but I'm sure you'll be able to find something."

He acknowledged her with a wave of his hand as he opened her door and stepped out of her room before shutting it again. He quickly went upstairs to his room and took a quick shower. He was mildly surprised when the spray that hit him was ice cold and refused to warm up on its own, but he just heated it with his own magic. After he'd gotten dressed he could feel the rumbling in his stomach that indicated he needed food so he practically ran down the tower and made his way to the kitchen.

The kitchen was a large room with a island in the middle. Around the edge stood a refrigerator, stove, oven, and other various cooking appliances. What really surprised him thoug,h was Jellal standing at the stove with a frying pan contentedly stirring some eggs around. He was wearing an apron and a small chef's hat while humming away tunelessly. Natsu grinned and said, "I didn't know you cooked Jellal."

The man jumped so hard that he almost spilled the eggs but swiftly saved them and turned around at Natsu glowering, "Really Natsu? I'm used to Meredy and Ultear doing this crap to me, but I'd figure someone else would not try and mess with me while I was in the kitchen!" His voice rose until he was shouting by the end of it.

Natsu held up his hands in a placating gesture, "Sorry, I didn't realize you got this intense about cooking."

Jellal grumbled and turned back to his eggs to make sure they weren't burning, "I cook like a five star chef for those women and they still try to find ways to mess with me while I do it. You better not do the same Natsu, or I swear you're on your own for food here."

Natsu swiftly said, "Oh no, I wouldn't dream of it. I'll leave the kitchen to you."

Jellal nodded and said, "Good. I have to make a supply run soon but I can scramble some eggs for you if you'd like."

The pink haired man grinned, "Sounds good to me. I didn't even know you could cook though."

Jellal laughed as he moved to pull out more eggs, "Well, Ultear and Meredy could burn water and I placed a higher premium on food than either of them so I taught myself to cook the first few years we were here. They quickly realized that food is good so I became the de facto chef of our little guild."

Natsu laughed as well, "Well no realization needed here. You cook it and I'll eat it."

The tattooed man busied himself with cooking Natsu's eggs and then asked, "So where were you last night? I figured you would be eager to know everything that we do about the Dark Guild that killed Lucy."

Natsu gave a quiet chuckle, "Well, in the process of cheering up Meredy I tired myself out and ended up just falling asleep with her in her room."

Jellal gave him a pointed look, "Be glad Ultear isn't around. She'd probably throw you off the top of the tower if she heard that."

Natsu grimaced, "It's not like that. We just slept."

The blue haired man shrugged, "It's none of my business. I'm not her mother, nor yours."

Natsu groaned and leaned against the island, "Just tell me what you know about the dark guild."

Jellal became serious then, "Alright. You know about the Balam Alliance right?"

He got a nod and then continued, "Well in your time, you've taken down two legs of it, Oracion Seis and Grimoire Heart, leaving just Tartarus. They're pretty much content to mind their own business but a new guild rose up to take the place of the ones you took down. They call themselves Whispering Void, and setting you up for Lucy's murder was their first big action. Really it's been their only big action. They used three of their subordinate guilds to do it."

Natsu's hand tightened against the island as he listened to Jellal and he could feel the wood giving way to the power of his grip as the man continued, "The one we took down must have been the one that planted the evidence against you. Like I told Erza, we found dozens of diaries where they'd been practicing Lucy's handwriting. Obviously one of the other ones set the fire, but I haven't been able to come up with a theory for what the other one did."

Wood cracked under Natsu's hand as he said quietly, "I don't care about them. I'll destroy them when I get around to it. Tell me where this Whispering Void is so I can go obliterate them."

Jellal shook his head as he moved to plate his and Natsu's eggs, "I can't. They've kept themselves well hidden. We're probably the only ones that know anything about them, and all we know is that they were behind Lucy's murder."

Natsu grimaced and said, "Fine, how do we find out where they are. Generally the old man points me in the direction of the Dark Mages and I burn them to a crisp."

Jellal chuckled and set the plate of eggs down in front of Natsu along with a fork, "If only it were so easy. We have to be methodical about this. We'll try and take down their subordinate guilds first and gather information. Then if we have enough, we can either leak the information to the Magic Council and let them deal with it, or we can take them down ourselves if we feel up to it."

Natsu ate his eggs as he thought about all of that and then finally said, "I don't give a damn how strong they are. When we find them, I will go in and destroy them alone if I have to."

It was at this moment that Meredy walked into the kitchen, dressed in clean clothes and said, "Don't worry Natsu, if you decide to go then so will we."

Jellal was about to agree but jumped when he saw Meredy pout and say, "What? No breakfast for me Jellal?"

He rushed around getting out all the things he'd need for eggs again while Meredy winked at Natsu behind his back. Natsu couldn't help but laugh because for a moment it felt like home.


	3. Chapter 3

A few days later, Jellal left on a supply run and a fact finding mission with the words, "I'll get the supplies and drop them back off here, but then I'm going to go and gather as much information as I can on the subordinate guilds of Whispering Void. Natsu, you need to get back into fighting form so I want you to train while I'm gone."

So, Natsu found himself deep under the castle with Meredy in a large cavern lit around the edge by torches. The girl said, "When we took over this place the Dark Guild was using this as a dungeon. Apparently the castle was built over a natural cave and connected to it for use as a cellar, and it was a good spot for their dungeon. We converted it into a training area."

Natsu looked around and decided that it wasn't bad. He asked, "Are you sure it's safe though? I don't want to be training and accidentally collapse the roof on myself."

She laughed, "We actually did that one time. Luckily Ultear was thinking quickly and used her Arc of Time to restore it before it could crush us." He saw the flash of pain in her eyes at the memory before she continued, "After that we put up a magic barrier on the ceiling and walls. It will cancel out all the magic that comes into contact with it."

And so, he spent a month alone in the castle with Meredy, using all of his free time to train. The rest of it was spent either sleeping or staring at his wall of memories. Sometimes it was almost physically painful to look at, but as time crept on the pain was less and less, as his emotional ties to Fairy Tail started to erode. Being locked in the prison had kept them in a kind of stasis as he had no way to deal with them. Now that he was out though, every time he thought of Erza's or Gray's enraged faces he could go take out his anger at them on the training room. Every time he thought about Lucy, he always had a private place to go and let out the tears, or Meredy was there to cheer him up.

After the month was up, he felt that he was stronger than when he had gone to prison. Meredy hadn't been a member of the Seven Kin of Purgatory for nothing, and pushed Natsu relentlessly in every training session. So, when Jellal finally returned from his information gathering, Natsu was chomping at the bit to know what he'd found.

It was early in the morning when Jellal returned. The only reason that Natsu saw him was the fact that when he came through the castle gates, the Dragon Slayer was perched outside of Meredy's window with a mischievous grin on his face. The week before, Meredy had used her sensory link to link the two of them together and proceeded to take an ice cold bath. The girl claimed they were refreshing but Natsu considered them torture, so she'd decided to play a prank on him. He had climbed out of his window and down the outside of the tower so that he could burst in through her window, wake her up, and challenge her to another pillow fight. This plan was of course ruined when Jellal walked up to the tower and shouted, "Natsu, what are you doing climbing on the tower?"

Natsu frantically made shushing motions with his hands while glaring at Jellal, hoping that his loud voice hadn't woken the sleeping girl. His luck wasn't so good though as her window burst open and a pillow flew out and smacked him in the face, sending him flying off of his perch and down the tower to land heavily on the ground, although he did manage to get the pillow under him in time to absorb some of the impact. Jellal walked over to him and said, "What on earth are you doing?"

Natsu only groaned but Jellal got his answer when Meredy leaned out of her window and waved down at him saying brightly, "Thanks Jellal! If you hadn't warned me he might have actually gotten me."

The blue haired man yelled up at her, "What do you mean?"

Meredy grinned, "I pulled a prank on him last week and he's been trying to get me back ever since."

The man laughed, "Alright, well I've got information, so get dressed and meet us in my office."

The girl disappeared and Jellal leaned down to help Natsu up saying, "You guys sure are lively. But don't you think it's a bit inappropriate to break into a girl's room while she's sleeping?"

Natsu shrugged and followed him into the castle saying, "It's not like I'm some pervert. Besides, I used to break into Lucy's house all the time and she was fine with it."

Jellal gave him a mildly incredulous look, "There's no way she was fine with that."

The dragon slayer laughed, "Well, you're right; she'd almost always kick me out. But it was always fun to mess with her. Plus I think she secretly liked it when I would sneak into her bed to sleep. I'd climb in and she'd just cuddle up to me while she was asleep."

Jellal smiled at him, "You sound better."

Natsu looked at him curiously, "What do you mean?"

He looked thoughtful, "Well, before I left, whenever you'd talk about Lucy, there'd always be something in your voice or in your eyes, like pain or rage or heartbreak. Now though, you seem to have gotten passed some of that."

Natsu grimaced at the man, "It's not that I've gotten past it, I've just accepted it. I loved her. You don't just get past that. I mean, you've basically got no shot with Erza anymore, but I bet that doesn't stop you from still loving her."

Jellal sighed as they reached his office and walked in, "Don't remind me."

He sat down in a chair behind a large desk and continued, "I meant everything I said though. I love her, but I'm done with her."

Natsu sat down in another chair and shook his head, "I don't want to get in the way of anything. I know what it's like to lose someone you love; I don't want someone to have to go through it just because of me."

Jellal smiled tiredly at him, "Thanks for that Natsu. It won't work though. You're part of Crime Sorciere now, and I know that you want nothing to do with Fairy Tail. It's something I learned from you Natsu, always put your guild family first."

Natsu replied, "Just because I want nothing to do with them doesn't mean you can't have something to do with them. One day you have to settle down Jellal, and you won't be satisfied with anybody but Erza."

Jellal shrugged, "I don't expect it will come to that. What we do is dangerous; I doubt we'll make it that far down the road."

The hot headed Dragon Slayer leapt out of his chair and slapped the blue haired man on the side of his head growling, "Don't talk like that. You can't live your life expecting to die! That's not living, that's existing. What's life without love? You have to snatch it when the chance comes by. I finally had it and now it's gone! Lucy was…"

He couldn't continue as the tears sprung up into his eyes and he dropped back into his seat. He clenched his fists trying to calm himself down while the tears coursed down his cheeks. It was this moment that Meredy chose to walk in and she saw the situation for what it was. She rushed over to the Dragon Slayer and put her arms around him saying soothingly, "Shhh Natsu, it's alright. It's alright, I'm right here."

Natsu felt her comforting arms around him as she berated Jellal, "How could you get him so worked up? Don't you have any tact Jellal?"

Jellal was sputtering trying to defend himself when Natsu got himself under control and said, "It's fine Meredy, I got myself worked up."

She let go of him and stepped back eyeing him suspiciously, "Are you sure? Because I've got a whole litany of pranks planned out for you but they'll all work on Jellal too."

This made the Dragon Slayer laugh and caused a nervous look on Jellal's face. Natsu said, "Don't worry about it. Now Jellal, Please tell me you found something because I'm ready to have a real fight and get some of this frustration out."

Jellal's face turned serious as he said, "I was able to track down one of the lower level guilds involved with Lucy's death. They call themselves Bloody Moon and they're actually not that far away from here. Their compound is only about a week's hike away, only a few hours if we wanted to risk the train."

Natsu paled and said, "Well I'm not that eager. We walk!"

Both Jellal and Meredy grinned at him, knowing his weakness. Meredy asked, "What else do you know about them Jellal? How strong are they?"

Jellal shook his head, "I didn't hear anything about their strength, just their location. I'm not too worried though. I doubt they're much stronger than your run of the mill Dark Guild."

Meredy nodded, "Alright, so when do we leave."

Natsu interrupted as Jellal was about to answer, "In five minutes."

The dragon slayer stood up and made as if to walk out of the room when Jellal said indignantly, "Hey, I just got back! I want at least one day to relax."

Natsu turned back and flashed a feral smile, "If you wanted to relax you shouldn't have brought back such good information. I'm all fired up!"

* * *

><p>A week later Natsu was sitting in a tree with Meredy grumbling at her, "I still don't see why we couldn't just march in and fight them."<p>

They were 100 yards away from the entrance to the Dark Guild's compound. He could vaguely make out the outline of the stone building that seemed to be hidden by thick trees and darkness. The girl next to him hit his arm lightly and said, "That's not how we do things Natsu. We have to be stealthy, we don't know how strong these guys are so Jellal is going to scout them out and then we'll decide on a plan of action."

Natsu gave her an incredulous look, "Stealthy? I'm the farthest thing from stealthy? The first mission I went on with Lucy we had to sneak into this pervert guy's mansion. She tried with that maid costume but his taste in women was… never mind. We tried to be stealthy and sneak in after that. You know what happened? I accidentally destroyed the entire place. So, why can't we just go an accidentally destroy that entire place?"

She groaned, "So that's where that maid costume came from. I've always wondered."

Natsu smiled softly and reminisced, "Yeah. That was back when I wouldn't know romance if it hit me on the head, and if it did I'd probably tried to fight it."

This made them both chuckle and he continued, "I kept the maid costume because it was a memento of our first mission together as a team. Now it's really the only thing I have left that was Lucy's."

He sighed softly and Meredy put an arm around him, "Maybe physically. But you always have what's in your heart, and all the good memories of her."

He looked over at her in the darkness and smiled, "Thanks. You're right. I shouldn't get so down."

He could see her smile as she said, "It's alright to be down. Just don't let it make you lose sight of the things you still have."

They sat in companionable silence after that for a while until Jellal came back. He looked half pleased and half frustrated. He hopped up into the tree with them and said, "This is a sorry excuse for a dark guild. They have guards but they're all asleep at their posts. They could at least give us a challenge."

Natsu grinned, "You want me to wake them all up? I can you know."

Jellal thought about it and a smile spread over his face, "It's been a while since I had a good stand up fight, how about it. Meredy?"

She groaned, "Men. Fine! Go on in and make a racket and destroy everything. I'll be right behind you. But don't expect me to bail you out when you get in trouble! It'll be your own damn fault!"

Natsu grinned and threw his arm around her this time, "Aww, come on Meredy. It'll be fun."

She gave him a mock glare, "If something goes wrong, I will be taking ice baths for a week!"

Natsu felt an involuntary shiver go up his spine but it didn't dampen his spirits. He shouted, "Alright, I'm all fired up! Let's go!"

All three of them hopped down from the tree and made their way over to the dirt path that led to the front of the Dark Guild. They walked down it and when they got to the doors of the guild Natsu took a deep breath and let out, "**Roar of the Fire Dragon!**"

A torrent of flames rushed out of his mouth and smashed the door off of its hinges. He cut it off and all three of them calmly walked into the guild. They came into a dark hallway that led to a large room that looked to be the common area. There were a few Dark Mages staring at them in shock that were still up, and there were many that seemed to be passed out on the tables. Natsu shouted, "Alright. Bring it you stupid Dark Mages. I'm Natsu Dragneel, the Salamander, and I'm here to destroy your guild!"

Some of them looked fearful until one, bolder than the rest shouted, "There's only three of them! Rayu, go and wake everyone up. We'll hold them here until you get back!"

A small man leapt up and ran out of the hall while about 15 Dark Mages stood up and started to stalk towards the Crime Sorciere mages. Jellal said calmly, "Natsu?"

Natsu didn't answer but stalked forward and without preamble launched himself at the nearest mage shouting, "**Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!**"

His fist crashed into the man sending him flying back into the stone walls unconscious. He whirled upon the next and did the same thing. In just a minute he had worked his way around the room and all of the Dark Mages there were now in various stages of unconsciousness. However, more were starting to pour in through the doors, and Jellal and Meredy had joined the fight. Jellal shouted, "**Meteor!**" and began streaking around the room, kicking and punching Dark Mages with precision and speed.

Meredy held her hands wide and shouted at a group of mages charging at her, "**Maguilty Sodom!**"

Phantasmal blades appeared in the air and flew towards her opponents. When they impacted, the Dark Mages screamed in pain as the swords attacked their sense of pain directly and collapsed. Natsu was steadily working his way through Dark Mages, dodging magic swords and bolts of magic that flew at him. Almost as suddenly as the fighting had started it stopped. Around the room dozens of Dark Mages lay defeated on the ground, across tables, and propped up against walls.

Natsu walked over to Meredy and Jellal, carelessly stepping on Dark Mages as he did, and said, "That was easy. They barely put up a fight."

However, a dark voice from behind him said coldly, "Easy you say? You haven't fought me yet punk."

Natsu turned to see a tall, buff man standing in the doorway. He had spiky black hair and dead brown eyes. He wore only a loose pair of sleeping pants but that didn't stop him from exuding a confident aura as he confronted the Crime Sorciere mages. Natsu said calmly, "Who the hell are you?"

The man said with an evil smile, "I'm the man who murdered your little girlfriend. You should have heard her screams. I broke into her house to set the fire and couldn't help myself from having a little… fun. I tied her to her bed and then set a fire in the room. I stayed to watch for a while as she struggled, it was just so enticing. I watched as the fire spread throughout the room and as it got closer to her bed she stopped struggling and starting screaming your name, Natsu this and Natsu that. It really was exquisite; I love to listen to people as they burn. When the fire reached her bed she stopped screaming your name and just started screaming. I loved it."

Throughout the man's speech, Natsu had been quivering with rage. When the man was done he said quietly, "I'm going to kill you. You'll be listening to your own screams as you burn in dragons' fire."

The man laughed, "I don't think so punk. I know something that you don't."

Natsu stepped forward and shouted, "What?"

The man's fists suddenly became wreathed in fire as he said, "I'm a Fire Dragon Slayer too!"

The man leapt at Natsu shouting, "**Fire Dragons Death Fist!**"

The Dark Mages revelation had caught Natsu by surprise and so he was barely able to block the attack in time, but he skidded back until he was standing next to Jellal and Meredy. Both of them stepped forward to help but he shouted, "No! I'm going to destroy him."

He charged back in shouting, "**Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!**"

His fist was aimed at his opponents' stomach but was met by another of the man's fiery punches. An explosion of fire started when their fists impacted and blew both of them backwards. Natsu flew through the air end over end and collided with a table, breaking it in two. He quickly bounced back up though, and located the Dark Mage. He was already up and charging at Natsu so the wrathful dragon slayer opened his mouth and shouted, "**Roar of the Fire Dragon!**"

The flames that came forth washed over the other man but when Natsu cut them off he was right there in front of him spinning in a roundhouse kick and shouting, "**Talons of Fiery Death!**"

His foot impacted with Natsu's head and threw him across the room again, this time head first into a stone wall. He stood up, much more shakily this time, as the man looked on and laughed, "I can't believe that you're the most famous Dragon Slayer in Fiore. You're much too weak, Natsu Dragneel!"

Natsu shouted back at him in rage, "There's no way that Igneel left another Fire Dragon Slayer behind. You must have stolen those powers somewhere!"

His opponent looked at him with contempt, "There are other Fire Dragons than Igneel. I was trained by the Fire Dragon Pyroris. My name is Andras Pyros, and soon I will be the only Fire Dragon Slayer left. "

Natsu stood up and said dangerously, "Well then. If what you say is true I have something to tell you."

Andras laughed and said, "Amuse me before I kill you."

Natsu gave him a feral smile, "Igneel was the king of Fire Dragons, which makes me the king of Fire Dragon Slayers. The king is always more powerful than his subjects, and the king now sentences you to death."

He could feel the rage bubbling up beneath him and he embraced it letting it fuel his flames. He felt it when his canines sharpened and elongated, and the skin on his face hardened into scales. He grinned, "Now I'm all fired up!"

He shot forward and before Andros could react shouted "**Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!**"

His fist connected with the man's stomach and the strength of it drove him back into the wall, spitting up blood. He was vaguely aware of the shocked gasp that he drew form Meredy but he didn't care. He shot forward and started to brutally punch Andras whose back was against the wall. The man feebly tried to resist but Natsu was relentless. His fist drove into the man's face, breaking his nose and crashing his skull back into the unyielding stone wall. Natsu leapt backwards and before his stunned opponent could move slashed his arms in a circular motion shouting, "**Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Crimson Lotus Exploding Flame Blade!**"

Flames erupted around his arms and engulfed Andras. His agonized screams sounded throughout the otherwise quiet guildhall and when Natsu's flames dissipated he dropped to the ground broken and defeated. Natsu quickly walked over to him and crouched down to see if he was still awake. Unfortunately for Andras, he was.

Natsu said to him, "I told you were going to hear your own screams as you burned in Dragon's Fire. Now you will die."

He stood up and brought his foot up to crush the man's skull when something crashed into him and arms wrapped around him. He almost turned and punched who it was but it was Meredy. She said to him, "Natsu, you can't kill him. That's not who you are."

He tried to shrug her off of him, "I don't care. He killed Lucy. Didn't you hear him? Didn't you hear what he did to her? He doesn't deserve to live."

The pink haired woman said urgently, "I know that, but you can't stoop to his level. You can't lose yourself in your vengeance."

Natsu slowly calmed down and said coldly, "What do you want to do with him then."

She said quickly, "There's a town not far from here with a contingent of Rune Knights. We'll take him there and leave him."

Natsu looked away and down at the defeated man who had taken away everything from him. He still felt the urge, the need, to kill him. Meredy's arms around him though stopped him from taking that final step. He managed to shrug her off and then stepped away saying, "Fine. Do what you want. I'm going back to castle."

Natsu stalked past Jellal without a word and out of the guildhall. He was so enraged that he couldn't see straight, or think straight at the moment.

It took him the week to travel back to the castle on his own, still raging and seething. He locked himself in his room and sat quietly on his bed, staring at his wall of memories and trying to calm down. He sat there for what felt like an eternity, just staring, trying to rid himself of the desperate desire to kill the man that had done those horrible things to Lucy. The day after he got back Jellal and Meredy arrived. Neither of them tried to come to his room and he was glad, knowing that he probably would have snapped and done something he would later regret.

Finally as night fell again, he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. He let himself lie back on the bed and go to sleep. It was all in vain though, because an hour later he woke up sweating and screaming at the nightmare he'd had. He had vividly seen everything that Andras had described to him and it made him physically ill.

Without thinking he left his room and stumbled down the stairs to Meredy's room. He knocked and when the girl answered the door, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, he said quietly, "Can I sleep with you tonight?"

She looked at him and seemed to be on the verge of denial but that moment passed and she gave him a soft smile saying, "Sure."

She took his hand and led him into her room, softly shutting the door behind them. He walked mechanically over to the bed and got in, not even waiting for her. She did the same, and softly slid her arms around Natsu. He whispered, "I dreamed about it. Everything he said. How could I not have been there? How could I not have saved her?"

Meredy stroked his hair and whispered back, "Not everyone can be saved. I couldn't save Ultear."

He slowly relaxed and returned her embrace. They lay there slowly falling asleep in each other's arms, just trying to comfort one another.

The next morning Natsu and Meredy woke up at the time and both opened their eyes to stare into the others. Natsu spoke first, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so cold to you."

She smiled softly, "Don't worry about it. I probably would have done the same thing in your place."

However, before Natsu could reply he was interrupted. Something impacted the tower above them, where Natsu's room was, and exploded, knocking both of them in opposite directions out of the bed.


	4. Chapter 4

Natsu fell in an ungainly heap next to the bed and shouted, "What the hell was that?"

He could hear Meredy's voice through the dust that was now falling in the room, "I don't know. We should go check out your room though."

He jumped up and made his way over to where he knew the door was and opened it, staggering out into the hallway. A moment later Meredy did the same, nearly knocking him over. He simply said, "Come on."

They raced upstairs with Natsu in the lead and as his door came in sight he could see it hanging off of its hinges. He bounded into his unnaturally cold room and even through the thick dust in the air he could tell it was almost completely destroyed. Meredy came into the room a few seconds behind him but those few seconds were enough for him to let out a burst of magic and scatter all of the dust. He was finally able to see clearly the destruction of his room.

Shards of ice stuck out what was left of his furniture. What really enraged Natsu was the destruction of his wall of memories. It seemed that whatever had exploded had come in straight through the board where he hung completed job requests. Shredded bits of paper were all over the room. The cabinet where he kept larger mementos hadn't fared much better. It had been knocked on its side, all of the items spilling out and being destroyed by flying shards of ice. The mannequin where he hung Lucy's maid costume had actually stayed upright throughout the entire thing. However, the outfit hadn't been as lucky. It was torn to shreds, and as he watched, bits of it kept breaking away and fluttering to the ground. It was well and truly destroyed.

Meredy asked quietly, "Who could have done this."

Natsu stomped over to the gaping hole in the wall where his board had been muttering, "I have a few ideas."

He looked outside and saw a scene that befuddled and enraged him at the same time. On the rise just outside of the swamp illusion line, stood a group of people. One had blue hair and seemed to be facing off with the other group. Five people made up that group and Natsu recognized each of them instantly. Erza, Gray, Wendy, Gajeel, and Juvia we're all somehow outside the castle, and Natsu knew that the destruction of his room could be placed squarely on the shoulders of Gray.

Unnoticed by him, Meredy had come over next to him to peer out the hole. He growled softly, "I'm going to kill that ice punk."

The pink haired girl gave him a scolding look, "Didn't we just have this conversation?"

Natsu shouted angrily, "But look what he did! He destroyed everything! He destroyed the last thing I had left of Lucy!"

Meredy smacked him on the side of the head and shouted, "Didn't we just have this conversation too? You still have what's in your head and in your heart!"

He rubbed his head where she'd hit him and said embarrassedly, "Yeah, sorry, you're right. It's just, it hurts. Especially because they threw me out, and now they've destroyed the only good things that I had left of them."

Meredy looked at the destruction, "Well, this time you can fight them. They did just attack our guilds headquarters, and I think we need to go defend ourselves don't you?"

A grin slowly dawned on Natsu's face and he said in a quiet dangerous voice, "It's time for them to learn the consequences of betraying family."

Meredy turned and said, "Come on, let's get out there."

Natsu had other ideas though. He turned with her and swept her into his arms bridal style saying, "No time, I have a faster way."

He took a few steps back from the opening as he felt Meredy's arms instinctively wrap around his neck and then took a running leap out of it, using bursts of flames from his feet to give him extra distance. He could hear Meredy shouting in his ear, "I hope you know what you're doing! If you drop me I'm going to sense link us and take an ice bath every day for the rest of my life!"

He grinned but didn't respond. His running leap had actually let him clear the wall and just moments before he was going to impact the ground he shot bursts of flames from his feet, slowing his momentum just enough for him to touch down heavily. He knew that he was still inside the illusion because none of the Fairy Tail mages had noticed him, but Jellal had turned around with an expression of shock on his face.

He took all this in, but that was it before Meredy's fist slammed into the side of his head. Since he was still holding her, they both tumbled to the ground when he fell over and she ended up on top of him. He grinned and asked, "What was that for? I got us here quicker didn't I?"

The pink haired girl groaned and threatened, "If you scare me like that again, I'm telling Jellal about the bucket of paint you have set up to drop down on him while he sleeps."

Natsu felt a shiver crawl up his spine and said, "You wouldn't…"

She smiled sweetly and said, "Yes, I would."

He said apologetically, "Alright, sorry for scaring you. Now… can you get off me so I can go fight my former friends?"

She looked down and noticed the position they were in and hurriedly stood up, offering him a hand which he gladly took and got up himself. They turned and could now see Jellal with a mildly annoyed look on his face that seemed to be directed at Natsu, and all of the Fairy Tail mages just looking confused. Natsu grimaced and waved at Jellal whose only reaction was to beckon the both of them forwards. They went and when they stepped out of the illusion all five Fairy Tail mages jumped and seemed to tense up. Natsu ignored them and walked over to Jellal asking, "So, what did these idiots do?"

Jellal sighed and said, "They've been out here for a while, I noticed them about an hour ago. They've been walking in and out of the swamp illusion…"

He was interrupted when Gajeel shouted, "Oi. We can hear you. Come talk to us."

Jellal turned to them and coldly said, "I might, but you've just attacked my castle."

Gray looked confused, "There's not a castle there, only a swamp."

A grim smile came over the blue haired man's face as he walked up to Gray. All of the Fairy Tail mages tensed up but Jellal said, "Come Gray, I'm going to show you something."

Gray glanced at his teammates before nodding. Jellal grabbed his upper arm and practically marched him towards the swamp. When they crossed the barrier, to Meredy and Natsu it seemed normal, but to the Fairy Tail mages it seemed like both of them had disappeared. Erza turned and shouted at Natsu, "Where has Jellal taken him."

He waved a hand at her and said, "Shut up. You'll see in a moment."

Natsu could see the danger signs of her temper boiling to the surface but he didn't care. She did quiet down however, when Gray and Jellal stepped back out of the illusion. Gray looked mildly sick to his stomach but Jellal had the same grim smile on his face. Natsu asked Jellal, "So, did you tell the ice queen here just what he destroyed?"

Jellal shoved Gray back towards the group of Fairy Tail mages and he stumbled towards them before saying, "No, I figured I'd leave that one up to you."

Natsu grinned, "Good, because I'm all fired up."

He turned towards the Fairy Tail mages and launched himself forward. His fist became wreathed in fire as he shot towards Gray. None of the Fairy Tail mages had time to react as Natsu suddenly punched Gray in the face and sent him flying while shouting, "That was my room you son of a bitch!"

While Gray was in the air Natsu shouted, "**Roar of the Fire Dragon!**"

The gout of flames that flew from his mouth washed over the Ice-Make mage. He slammed against a tree twenty yards from the group and fell to the ground unmoving. Natsu suddenly felt a sword at his throat and he knew it was Erza. He slowly turned so as not to alarm her and she growled, "Why would you attack him?"

He shrugged, "He attacked first. If I'd actually been in my room his ice cannon might have seriously injured me. Even I'll be down for a while if a roof fell on me."

She looked shocked and said, "That actually hit something? He was just firing an Ice Cannon Blast to see if he could get someone's attention. We figured out that there was an illusion there but..."

He glared at her, "That's the danger of firing blindly; you never know what you might hit."

Gajeel laughed, "Gihi, that's rich coming from you Salamander."

Natsu's face lost his glare and he laughed with the Iron Dragon Slayer, "I guess you're right Gajeel, generally though I have to pay for the damages. Gray just paid in a slightly non-traditional way."

Erza shouted at him, "You can't just go around attacking comrades like that! Gray is your friend! You and he are rivals but you've never seriously hurt him!"

Natsu became enraged at her comments, "You still think we're comrades? After everything that's happened? I have two comrades, Jellal and Meredy. I don't care about Fairy Tail. I don't care about anyone in Fairy Tail!" He grimaced and then said, "How did you find me anyways?"

Gajeel shrugged, "I caught your scent on the way back from a big job. I mentioned it and Gray and Erza wanted to go find you."

He looked at Erza and grated out, "Why?"

She said calmly, "We're bringing you home. We told Master about Jellal's evidence and he decided that we're bringing you back, and damn the Magic Council."

Natsu started laughing, almost causing Erza to cut his throat with the sword. He said, "So you trust Jellal but you didn't trust me? And you still think I'm going to go with you?"

She said just as calmly, "We will take you back by force if necessary. There are five of us and only one of you."

In a flash Meredy and Jellal were by his side with Meredy calmly saying, "Well, three of us and four of you, I'm not sure if Gray is going to be getting up for a while."

Erza took a few steps back but only had eyes for Jellal, "Jellal, don't fight me on this. We need Natsu to come home."

Jellal glared at her, "He is home, here, with Crime Sorciere."

Natsu placed a hand on Jellal's chest and pushed him back slightly, "This one isn't your fight Jellal, I won't ask you to fight Erza just for me."

He shouted at Natsu, "Damnit! I'm not going to betray family like I did already! I promised myself I wouldn't do that again!"

Natsu looked straight into his eyes, "I don't want you hurting Erza again, not for her, but for you. You love her, and I won't let you destroy that. Love is worth too much."

The entire group was shocked at his statement. Nobody said a word while Jellal pondered the situation with a troubled look on his face. He finally said quietly, "Fine. I'll let you handle this your way."

He quietly turned and walked back towards the castle, stopping just before the illusion would kick in and turning back to watch. Natsu turned to Meredy but she interrupted before he could speak, "Don't even think about it. I'm not losing another member of my family like I lost Ultear."

He grinned at her, "Wouldn't dream of it. You take Gajeel and Juvia, I'll take Erza and Wendy. Deal?"

The pink haired girl winked, "Last one finished cooks all the food next time Jellal goes on a fact finding mission."

He nodded and said, "Deal."

The both turned towards the Fairy Tail mages, ready to charge in when Juvia, who had been quiet up until this point, held up her hands and said, "Juvia does not wish to fight her friend Meredy. If Natsu does not wish to come back then Juvia thinks Natsu should be able to do what he wants. Natsu is a free wizard. Juvia would be angry, even with Gray, if he destroyed her house."

Gajeel added, "Yeah, we screwed up with the Salamander. He doesn't wanna come back, he doesn't have to."

Wendy chimed in as well, "Erza… I think we have to let Natsu go. We kicked him out remember? Even if we were wrong, if he doesn't want to come back then we can't force him too."

Erza listened to all this and then said, "I will not let my family be broken up by a mistake I made. He's coming back whether he likes it or not."

Natsu snapped, "A mistake you made? You mean a mistake the entire guild made; you were just the face of it. Now you want me to come back, after the entire guild denounced me and left me to rot in jail. Erza, go back to your family, because I'm not a part of it anymore. In fact, I never was. Remember how you actually thought that I could kill Lucy?"

He could see the pain that he was causing in her eyes but he drove the point home by mockingly quoting her, _"You are a person guided by your emotions. If rage and heartbreak were those emotions you could do it."_

Erza sighed and said quietly, "I was wrong Natsu. Please. Come home so we can fix Fairy Tail, it's not right without you there."

He spat angrily at her, "It's not right without Lucy there either! I had just lost the most important person in the world to me, and what does my family do? They blame it on me and kick me out. You don't deserve a chance to fix anything."

Everyone could hear her muttering, "It's happening again…" and then louder, "I won't let it happen again. My family is not going to break apart!"

A glow surrounded her and suddenly she had requipped into her Flame Empress Armor. Natsu glanced at the other three Fairy Tail mages and growled, "Stay out of it."

He also turned to Meredy and said quickly, "Let me fight her by myself, I can take her."

The pink haired girl had a worried look on her face but relented, "Fine, just don't hurt her too badly."

Natsu turned back to Erza and crashed his fists together, igniting them, "That depends on how badly she makes me hurt her."

Everyone stepped back to give Natsu and Erza some space as they faced each other on top of the small rise. When they were far enough back Natsu said to his red headed former friend, "Are you sure you want to fight me? You once told me that I'd surpass you one day, and I think today is going to be that day."

She pointed her flame red sword at him and replied, "No. I will defeat you and take you back to Fairy Tail and our family will be whole again. You will come to see that you do belong in Fairy Tail."

Natsu grimaced and didn't bother replying only shouting, "**Roar of the Fire Dragon!**"

A torrent of flames burst from his mouth and rushed towards Erza. Natsu didn't expect it to hit and he was right. Erza flipped into the air and shouted, "**Requip: Black Wing Armor!**"

She then shot towards Natsu, brandishing a sword as black as midnight which clashed with the light from the morning sun. Her sword was almost a blur as she closed and slashed at him. He was able to dodge back, but ended up on the defensive. Erza went through a series of quick cuts and thrusts, trying to end the fight quickly. It was all Natsu could do to dodge her strikes. Natsu was waiting for the opportune moment to strike, and his newly found patience seemed to confuse Erza. He grinned as part of his training with Meredy flashed through his mind.

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>Roar of the Fire Dragon!<strong>__"_

_His flames crashed against the wall, not finding their target. Instead the pink haired girl had dodged left. He growled and charged towards her, extending a fist wreathed in flame and shouting, __**"Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!**__"_

_Again she dodged dropping low letting his flaming fist pass harmlessly over her head and sweeping Natsu's legs out from under him. He went down hard and in a flash he heard Meredy shout, "__**Maguilty Sodom!**__" and teal swords slammed into the ground next to him. He looked up and saw the pink haired girl standing over him smiling, "I win again."_

_He groaned and stood up as she continued, "You rely too much on your power. You might have double my raw power, and on a wide open battlefield you'd probably beat me, but in this cave you can't completely utilize all your destructive potential. I know this, so I don't have to take the offensive and try and beat you before you destroy me in an all-out attack. Instead, I can wait until you overextend yourself and I can take you down quickly and easily."_

_Natsu laughed, "I prefer being aggressive, waiting around for something isn't really my strong suit."_

_A devilish smile flashed across the pink haired girls face, "Alright, one more round. If you win, I won't lecture you anymore about your fighting style. If I win, you do all my chores, plus all of the cooking until Jellal gets back."_

_Natsu grinned and said, "Deal. I'm all fired up now!"_

_Of course, she won. It took her longer than the last time though._

* * *

><p>A dark smile flashed across Natsu's face as he thought, 'There!'<p>

Erza had stumbled on a dip in the land and her thrust had flown slightly off to the side. Natsu was on her in an instant. He grabbed her sword hand wrist in an iron grip and said with a feral smile, "My turn."

His other hand became wreathed in flame and he shouted, "**Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!**"

He punched her square in the face causing her to grunt in pain. Instead of letting her go flying however, he kept his iron grip on her wrist and punched her again. He was pulling his arm back to punch a third time when she requipped a sword into her free hand and swung it at him. He let go and stepped back slightly and he felt the rush of air from the tip of her sword as it flew past his face. Just as it did he jumped forward and kicked her in the chest shouting, "**Talons of the Fire Dragon!**"

His flaming foot impacted her armor, cracked it, and sent her skidding backwards. Natsu watched as she glanced down at her cracked breastplate and let out an annoyed huff. Light surrounded her again as she shouted, "**Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor!**"

She flew into the air and shouted, "**Dance, My Blades!**"

Slowly the swords floating behind her began to circle her. Natsu had seen this before and, knowing exactly what she was going to do next, prepared his counter. She cried, "**Circle Sword!**"

As the swords flew towards him with deadly speed he shouted, "**Roar of the Fire Dragon!**"

The gout of flames that exploded from his mouth rushed up to meet the swords flying down at him. His fire won, melting the swords instantly and then continuing on the engulf Erza. She fell out of the sky trailing smoke and impacted heavily on the ground. Natsu was about to bound over to her when she stood up and shouted angrily, "It's not over yet!"

The next thing he knew she had shouted, "**Requip: Purgatory Armor!**"

She charged him with blinding speed and swung her huge spiked sword at him. He was a mite too slow in ducking and the flat of the blade hit him in the head, sending him flying. While he was still in the air she had followed him, caught up with him, and slammed her sword into his stomach. He crashed into the ground and let out a gasp as all of the air was knocked out of him. He could hear Erza shout as his head pounded from slamming it into a rock, "Give up Natsu. I have the strength of Fairy Tail behind me."

When he heard this, the dam holding back all of his rage and pain broke and he welcomed it, letting it wash through him and feed the flames inside him. She had stepped back slightly to await his response but he didn't answer, instead slowly getting up. He looked at her and he could see her start; unknown to him, his normally coal black eyes had turned a fiery red. He said quietly, "You have the strength of Fairy Tail. Don't make me laugh. I had the strength of Fairy Tail. I gave everything for that guild."

His voice began to rise, "Who was it that decided to give up their life at the Tower of Heaven Erza? Who was it that saved that person from their own idiocy? You didn't understand what it meant to be in Fairy Tail then because you were too blinded by your past and I had to open your eyes. I did so much for you Erza. When you needed me most, I was there. Where were you when I needed you most?"

He roared at her and she flinched, "You were at the front of the mob, ready to send me to jail for the rest of my life. You betrayed me. One of my best friends didn't believe a god damn word I said and chose to turn her back on me, after everything I'd done for her. You don't have the strength of Fairy Tail, in fact, you don't deserve to even be called a Fairy Tail mage! If the rest of the guild chose not to believe me, then at least you should have! You think you're taking me back there? You would have to kill me before I let you take me. Let me show you strength, the strength of a dragon that was betrayed by its family."

He could see her mouth begin to form his name but he shot forward and planted a flaming fist in her stomach. She bent over to gasp as he drove the breath from her and he grabbed the back of her head and slammed it into a flaming knee. He knew that she was disoriented so he let go for a second to take a step back, plant his foot, and pivot bringing his leg up for a devastating roundhouse kick. She couldn't get out of the way in time and his foot connected with her head, driving her to the side and down into the ground.

He stepped over her and grabbed the collar of her armor to haul her slightly off the ground, ignoring the pain of the spikes jabbing into his hand. He shouted at her, "For a person that has such a horrible past, you never learned from it!"

He punched her in the face, eliciting a groan.

Natsu yelled again, "You did exactly what Jellal did so long ago, but you did it to me!"

His fist crashed into her face again, and through the blood that was spurting out of her nose and mouth and the cuts on her forehead, he could see understanding flicker in her eyes.

Tears began coursing down his face as he screamed, "I loved you like a sister Erza!"

He picked her up until her feet were just barely touching the ground and then slammed her face first as hard as he could into the dirt, creating a small crater.

He didn't let go of her collar and hauled her back up again, "You left me!"

As he screamed each name he punctuated it with a devastating punch, "Just like Igneel! Just like Lucy! Just like the Old Man, and Gray, and Laxus, and everyone else I every loved!"

By now Erza was nearly unconscious, but Natsu didn't care, so caught up in his rage that he kept striking her, "You were one person I would have thought would never leave me!"

He grabbed her throat now and lifted her high into the air. He could hear the choking sounds she began making as his hand cut off almost all the air she was getting. He lit his hand on fire and he could hear her agonized screams as he began to squeeze, choking the life from her and burning it from her all at the same time.

He knew that everybody was racing towards him now, trying to stop him from killing Erza. He turned and let out a gout of flame at the approaching Fairy Tail mages, knocking them down and preventing them from getting to him in time. Jellal had cast his meteor magic and streaked towards him but was surprised when Natsu jumped out of his way, causing him to overshoot his target. Natsu knew that he could dodge him enough times. As all this was happening however Meredy crashed into him from behind, wrapping her arms around his waist. He could hear her shout in his ear, "Enough Natsu! You've beaten her and proved your point! Killing her won't make anything different!"

He ignored her and kept squeezing. Erza's screams had tapered off now as she fell fully unconscious. He felt Meredy slip around in front of him and grab his head, jerking it until he was staring into her bright green eyes. There were tears in them. She said again, "Don't let her change you! Taking a life changes you and never for the better!"

A red haze of rage was over his eyes though as he ignored her and continued squeezing Erza's neck. He was suddenly surprised then, when Meredy jerked his head down and crashed her lips into his. He was so stunned he dropped Erza to the ground, and the red haze began to lift from his eyes.

A moment later she let him go and said said passionately, "I love you Natsu. If you kill her you will lose everything that I love about you. You're warmth and kindness will be gone and be replaced by nothing but anger and coldness. This past month, you've filled the void in my heart that Ultear left; you just haven't been able to see it."

Natsu reeled in shock as his mind flashed back over the month, searching for answers.

_Nastu struggled to chop vegetables as Meredy leaned on the island in the kitchen grinning at him. He grumbled, "Stupid training, stupid bet, stupid food."_

_He heard his pink haired companion giggle behind him, "Wow Natsu, whoever thought you would be calling food stupid."_

_He turned around brandishing a carrot in one hand and a knife in the other and said, "Cooking is stupid! Food isn't!"_

_She turned to leave and said, "I'm going to take a bath, dinner better be ready when I get back!"_

_He grumbled and waved the carrot in acknowledgement, turning back to his labors. He had just thrown the very unevenly cooked vegetables in a frying pan to cook when he felt a chill in one of his feet. He muttered out loud, "That's strange…"_

_A moment later it felt like he'd been plunged into an icy river. He began shivering all over. He said, "What the hell is going on?"_

_Shivering uncontrollably, he turned back to the stove, trying to cook the vegetables and meat that was already on it. _

_Thirty minutes later he sat at a small table with the freshly washed Meredy. Both of them looked down at the unappetizing chunks of vegetable and pork on the plates in front of him. Meredy picked up a piece on her fork and looked at it critically, "Natsu, this is burnt."_

_She put it back down and picked up another piece, "And this one isn't cooked at all!"_

_He looked away in shame, "I never said cooking was my strong suit. Besides, something is wrong in your kitchen. Right after you left, I felt like I'd jumped into an icy river or someone had dumped a bucket of ice over my head. It was really weird."_

_Natsu glanced at her and could tell that her hand was over her mouth, trying to suppress laughter. He got suspicious then, "What did you do?"_

_Meredy couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing, "I sense linked us and then took an ice bath. Oh man, I wish I could have seen your face when I jumped in."_

_He looked at her in shock, "Why you… that's it, you're toast."_

_He jumped up, knocking his plate to the floor and dove over the table at the pink haired girl across from him. Meredy had a surprised look on her face before he crashed into her and sent them both tumbling to the ground. He took advantage of her momentary vulnerability to plant his fingers in her sides and began ruthlessly tickling her. In the two weeks he'd been there, he'd learned a lot about his only companion, and one of the things he had learned was that she was insanely ticklish. For the next hour, various quarters of the castle rang with shouting and laughter._

* * *

><p>Another memory flickered through his head as he started into Meredy's tear filled eyes.<p>

* * *

><p><em>He sat quietly leaned up against a tree next to the small stream, fishing rod stuck into the ground in front of him, enjoying the serenity of nature. They'd been out here for about an hour but hadn't had any luck and it seemed to be grating on the pink haired girl next to him. Every time he glanced at her he could see the frustration evident on her face as she cast and recast her line, hoping for something to bite. After the fifth time in three minutes that she recast her line, Natsu drawled, "If you keep that up I'll be the only one eating dinner."<em>

_She turned her head to look at him and pouted, "This is stupid. We have the supplies Jellal brought back, why don't we just eat those?"_

_He grinned at her, "Well, as evidenced by last night, I can't cook. And, since I lost that bet, I have to figure out something to do for food. So, the one thing I am good at is fishing and then cooking fresh caught fish."_

_Meredy groaned, "But we haven't caught anything! We've been at it for an hour and it's nearly sunset."_

_He laughed, "Don't worry, with a little patience you'll catch something, trust me."_

_She groaned again, "I still don't see why you can't just catch enough for the both of us."_

_This time it was his turn to pout, "I just wanted some company. If you don't want to hang out then you can go back up to the castle."_

_She immediately softened and smiled at him, "Alright, I'll stop complaining. But fishing just isn't working for me so I'm going to take a nap."_

_Natsu smiled back at her, "Alright, I'll see if I can't catch enough for us."_

_Immediately Meredy scooted over next to him and lay down putting her head in his lap and getting comfortable. He looked down at her to give her a warning but could see that her breathing had already slowed and she was fast asleep. He chuckled and went back to watching his line thinking, 'She's just like me, she can sleep anytime, anyplace.'_

The memories faded as Natsu's mind leapt back into the present, only moments after Meredy had actually kissed him. Emotions raged within him. He remembered Lucy and everything that he had loved about her. Somehow this felt like a betrayal to her and her memory, but somehow it also felt right. He looked at her and stuttered, "I… I… This is too much… I can't do this right now…"

He turned away and she let him. He looked down at the unconscious and nearly dead Erza on the ground and his face hardened. He turned away and started marching back to the castle when explosions suddenly sounded behind him.

He whirled around and saw his comrades and former comrades all lying on the ground, and five figures closing in from the nearby forest. He rushed over to Meredy and found her covered in dirt and bruises but conscious and trying to stand up. Somehow though, the explosions had caught Erza's body and flung her away from her position near Meredy, directly towards the oncoming attackers.

A moment later Jellal had reached his side and muttered, "We'll talk later, right now we need to deal with whoever this is."

Natsu nodded and stared down the approaching mages. He glanced over to find Wendy, Juvia, and Gajeel all struggling to stand up.

All five of the attackers stopped about thirty feet from the Crime Sorciere mages, right next to Erza's body. They all wore long dark cloaks with the hoods drawn up, hiding their faces from the bright morning sun. One of them stepped forward to pick up Erza's body and sling it over his shoulder, and another stepped forward to say, "We came here hoping to find the mages who destroyed our subordinates a week ago and it seems we have. We've also got another prize, Fairy Tail's Titania. This is indeed an auspicious day."

Natsu shouted, "Who the hell are you?"

The man spoke again, his voice grating on Natsu's ears, "I am from the guild Whispering Void, perhaps you've heard of us. We did ruin your life, although somehow you've been broken out of jail. It seems our subordinates didn't do a good enough job of hiding their tracks."

The red haze descended over Natsu's eyes again as he shouted, "You're the ones who had Lucy killed?"

He could almost see the man lick his lips and smile as he said, "Oh yes. We're going to destroy Fairy Tail from the inside out, and what better way to do that than to start with it's beating heart, Natsu Dragneel. Now we have Titania Erza as well. Things are going better than I could have dreamed."

Natsu raged at the man, "I'm going to destroy you! You'll be nothing but ash when I'm done with you!"

He moved to charge but another explosion blew dirt in a huge geyser two feet in front of him and he flinched back. The man tutted, "Not so fast. We didn't come here to fight, just gather information. We'll be seeing you around Dragneel. But, I don't think anyone will be seeing Titania anymore, she's ours now."

A thick fog suddenly billowed from the outstretched hands of one of the other dark mages and quickly consumed the area. Natsu couldn't see anything but felt a hand latch onto his forearm. He knew instinctively that it was Meredy and pulled her in close. Soon enough the fog dissipated.

By now the other Fairy Tail mages had gotten up, and surprisingly Gray was with them, although he had to be supported by Juvia. However, the Whispering Void mages were gone, and with them Erza.

Natsu screamed in frustration, "They were right there, and now they're gone. I can't even smell them, that fog messed up their scents."

Jellal rounded on him and shouted, "Don't you care about Erza? They just kidnapped her! Who knows what they'll do to her!"

Natsu said coldly to him, "I just made it very plain that I don't care about Erza. You said you'd let me handle her how I wanted too, and I did."

Jellal slowly calmed down and then his shoulders slumped and he said quietly, "She's gone. I love her and I let them take her."

Meredy said, "Don't worry Jellal. We'll find them and get her back."

Natsu added, "Only after we're done pulverizing every inch of them."

He could hear the Fairy Tail mages walking up to their little group and he could just feel the anger coming off of them, but he ignored it and said, "Alright, time to destroy the people who tried to destroy me."


	5. Chapter 5

Natsu whirled on the four Fairy Tail mages who were left and roared, "Leave! You've caused enough trouble already!"

Gray was having to be supported by Juvia but still had the strength and anger to shout at Natsu, "What the hell Natsu! You just nearly killed Erza and you did let her get kidnapped by Dark Mages!"

Natsu snorted, "It's her own damn fault. She was arrogant and overconfident and it nearly cost her life, and it did cost her freedom.

Gajeel said to him, "Salamander, just because you beat Erza doesn't mean you can beat whoever else comes after you. Next time it might be Mirajane, or Laxus, or hell even Gildarts. Mirajane is hell-bent on getting you back. Laxus doesn't give a damn, but he'll do it if the old man asks him to. Gildarts, I don't know, we haven't seen him in a long time and I'm not even sure he know what happened but if he does decide to come after you, a few words from me and the girls here won't hold much over him."

Natsu eyed him and then gave him a slight nod, "Whatever. I'll beat anyone that thinks they can take me back to Fairy Tail."

Gajeel nodded back and then turned to leave along with Juvia, who was dragging Gray away as well. Wendy stayed behind to look at him with big wide eyes, "Are you sure you don't want to come back Natsu? Happy is really sad all the time, he's stopped trying to give fish to Carla, she's been giving them to him to try and make him feel better."

Natsu sighed and shook his head, "If I went back I'd end up really killing someone, probably the Ice Princess. Besides, I'm happy here, happier than I could be if I went back to Fairy Tail."

He was surprised when the small blue haired girl gave him a hug and said, "Well, I hope you can come back one day."

Natsu felt a flash of murderous rage flow through his body but a deep breath dissipated it. He really couldn't stay mad at Wendy of all people so he placed a hand on top of her head and said, "Maybe one day, but not anytime soon."

She let go of him and gave him a big smile and then ran to catch up with the departing Fairy Tail mages. Meredy moved up next to him and smiled at him, "You're just a big softie aren't you?"

He gave her a wry look and said, "Anyone else might have gotten a flaming fist to the head, but it's kind of hard to be mad at Wendy."

Meredy nodded, "She's so cute."

Natsu didn't respond, instead turning to Jellal and saying, "What do we do now? They got away and I can't track them."

He shrugged and said, "We keep doing what we've been doing. We've got nothing on Whispering Void so we need to find their third subordinate guild. We got zero information from the two other guilds we destroyed so we'll have to hope for something from the other one."

Natsu nodded, "Alright, well… how the hell do we find them?"

Jellal replied, "Let me do some planning. Come find me tomorrow and we'll talk about it."

He strode back towards the castle and Natsu watched him go. He sighed and then followed him with Meredy at his side. He glanced up at the sky to see that the sun was directly overhead, barely noon. Natsu groaned, "More waiting. I just want to go hit something."

Meredy said, "You should probably see what you can salvage from your room."

The Dragon Slayer groaned louder this time, "Jeez, I shouldn't have wasted so much energy on Erza and put more into beating up Gray."

Meredy replied, "You seemed to be angrier at Erza than Gray."

Natsu snorted, "That's an understatement. Erza can burn for all I care."

They entered the castle and began climbing the stairs into the tower with their rooms. Meredy said softly, "Erza's a good person, she just got lost somewhere along the way."

They were coming up on the second floor with Meredy's rooms and Natsu stopped and said, "You know the story of her life right?"

When he received a nod he continued, "She did the exact same thing to me that Jellal did to her. Betrayal from family hurts, and she should understand that pain better than anyone. I tried not to care. I could not care when I was rotting in prison, but I'm out. Now it feels like my hearts been ripped out and replaced with this burning ball of rage. I've been taking that rage out on the people that killed Lucy, but if Fairy Tail is right there in front of me…"

He left the rest unspoken and let his previous actions speak for themselves. Natsu continued on upstairs and when Meredy moved to follow he turned back and smiled softly at her, "Will you give me some time? Too much has happened already today, and if I can't go hit something, I just need some time to myself."

The pink haired girl crossed her arms and pursed her lips but said softly, "Fine. If you want to talk, I'll be here."

She turned and went into her room, quietly shutting the door behind her. Natsu stared at it for a few seconds before walking up the stairs to his room, what was left of his room at any rate. It had been long enough for the dust and flying scraps of cloth to settle and everything was still as he entered through the busted door. He stared at the devastation that was his room. Pretty much everything was destroyed.

He walked over to a small dresser and had to hit it a few times before any of the drawers would come out. A few sets of clothes had survived thankfully. Next he went to check out the bed and quickly discovered that it was a total loss. The frame was intact, but deceptively weak and when he sat down on the shredded mattress to test it the bed immediately collapsed. He sighed and went to check out the small bathroom. All of the porcelain had been destroyed by huge flying shards of ice and the large mirror hanging above the sink had thousands of cracks emanating from a single point where a single spike of ice had impaled it. There were only so many things he could do though to put off the inevitable, and so he turned and went back out into the room.

He looked at the giant hole in the wall and sighed. Shredded paper lay scattered around it and the pegboard that everything was pinned to was mostly gone. The bottom left corner was intact though, with one job request still dangling from it. Natsu bent down and plucked it off before bringing it up to read it. It turned out to be nothing special, just a random job to take out some bandits that he couldn't even remember. He lit his hand on fire and watched as the request turned to ash.

Natsu stared at the small pile of ash in his hand before angrily flinging it away. Then he let out a single short bark of laughter. It was followed by another, and then more. Soon he was laying on his back laughing like a madman. He said to the ceiling, "Man, if Igneel could see me now. He'd roast my sorry ass. He'd say something like, 'What kind of idiot runs away when a girl tells him she loves him. Get out there and be a real dragon Natsu!' Jeez, I am just so pitiful."

He lay in the rubble that was his room and thought, really thought, about the events of the day. He dismissed Fairy Tail as not worth his time and focused on Meredy. He'd known her for a while, but had only really gotten to know her well in the last month. While on the outside she could be calm, stoic, and sensible, on the inside she was a lot like Natsu. She had a fun loving and bubbly personality that appealed to the dragon slayer. There was something almost instant about the attraction Natsu felt for her.

Comparatively, Meredy and Lucy had little in common. It had taken years for Natsu to realize that he was in love with Lucy. Of course, he mused, that was probably because he was an idiot most of the time. Lucy had never come up to him and declared her love for him, but the situation with Meredy had been rather extreme.

Lucy always had her head in the clouds or some book and rushed through life with romantic notions of how the world worked. Meredy was much more down to earth, having learned early on from her time in Grimoire Heart just how cruel the world could be.

Natsu sighed and said to himself, "This is ridiculous, I can't just compare them to each other, they're entirely different people."

He lay there musing for hours as he watched the sun set. It became fully dark and he started to get sleepy. He stood up, stretched, and started to make his way over to the bed before stopping. With dismay he muttered, "I don't have a place to sleep tonight. Damnit!"

He jumped when Meredy's soft voice floated through the room, "I don't mind sharing you know."

Natsu turned quickly to see her standing in the doorway with a smile on her face, "Jeez, don't sneak up on me like that!"

The pink haired woman laughed, "I thought I couldn't sneak up on you, what with your enhanced dragon senses and all."

Natsu crossed his arms and pouted, "I was distracted!"

She grinned and teased, "Aww, is the dragon mad?"

He was tempted to grab one of his nearly destroyed pillows and throw it at her but he didn't. Instead he sighed and said, "It's fine. I'll go sleep on one of the couches in the library."

She lifted an eyebrow and said, "You haven't had a problem sharing a bed before."

Natsu grimaced and said, "It's not that I have a problem… it's just… well… damnit you know what I'm talking about!"

Meredy groaned, "I do, but you don't need to let that make things awkward. I'm just trying to be nice since your room is pretty much gone."

The dragon slayer sighed again, "Look, I just need some time to figure out… things.

The girl grinned, "Well, figure it out while you sleep on something actually comfortable, every single one of those couches has lumps in them."

Natsu laughed, "You're not going to take no for an answer?"

Meredy winked at him and said, "Now you're getting it."

"Fine fine, I'll be down in a minute."

The pink haired girl gave him a look that said if he wasn't down in a minute there would be more ice baths in his future and turned to go back downstairs. Natsu laughed and muttered to himself, "What have I gotten myself into?"

He looked over the destruction of his treasures and smiled, 'Maybe this was what I needed. I should stop mooning over the past and get on with my life. Doesn't mean I should forget, just move on, maybe get some new treasures. I'm going to kick so many people's asses though, and if Fairy Tail decides to put themselves on that list again, then so be it.'

He turned and left the room, making his way downstairs to stand in front of Meredy's door. He quietly opened it and slipped inside, noting that it was already dark. He shrugged out of his vest and tossed it over the back of a chair before making his way over to the bed and crawling in. He lay down on his back, careful not to disturb Meredy in case she was already sleeping. She wasn't and immediately rolled over to fling an arm across his chest and a leg across his legs. He chuckled softly, "And I thought I wasn't subtle."

He could feel the vibrations in her body as she laughed, "I think I threw subtlety out the window today."

He replied, "You definitely did."

She turned her face towards his and he could barely make out her green eyes in the darkness, "I need someone to be with. It used to be Ultear, but when she disappeared it ripped my heart out. Jellal is a nice enough person, but he just can't be there the way Ultear was. Then you came along, and I finally started having fun again. I found someone to just be with, and I just want someone to hold on to."

She laid her head back down on his chest and he stared up at the ceiling for a while before softly saying, "You can hold on to me as long as you want to. It just may be a while before I hold you the way you might want me to."

He could feel her face stretch into a smile as she murmured, "Alright, but if you end up feeling a certain icy chill more often, maybe you should take it as a hint."

Natsu laughed and pushed her off of him before saying, "Are you trying to blackmail me?"

She laughed in the darkness as well, "Maybe, maybe not. Maybe I just think it's funny."

Natsu groaned and rolled over onto his stomach letting the pillow muffle his voice, "There's no winning against you is there?"

He felt her arms wrap around him and she snuggled up to him before saying, "Nope, you're stuck with me, like it or not."

The dragon slayer got into a more comfortable position and said, "Alright, alright. Just let me get some sleep it's been a long day, and tomorrow's going to be long too."

He didn't get a response other than her hot breath on the back of his neck and so he closed his eyes and let himself drift off to blissful sleep.

The next morning Natsu woke to find himself lying on his back with Meredy on top of him again. Although for some reason something felt wet against his chest. He leaned his head up but all he could see was a mass of pink hair as Meredy slept quietly. He gently shook her and said, "Meredy, wake up."

She did with a start and sat up, hair wild and sticking out at strange angles. Natsu asked with concern, "Did you have a nightmare?"

The girl rubbed sleep from her eyes as she said, "No… why?"

Natsu sat up then and looked down at his chest, "Because I think you cried on my chest, it's all wet."

He looked up and could see her blushing crimson, "Yeah… in fact, I think I did have a nightmare. That's right, a really bad one, I definitely cried on your chest."

Natsu looked at her suspiciously and said, "Alright, spill it. What did you do!"

She mumbled, "Ultear used to tell me that I drooled in my sleep sometimes."

Natsu stared at her for a moment and then laughed, "Jeez, I thought it was something serious."

The pink haired girl gaped at him, "But… but… ugh! This is so embarrassing!"

She got up to rush to the bathroom but he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, "No way, I get first shower, you drooled on me remember?"

He jerked her back down onto the bed and sped into the bathroom, quickly closing the door behind him. Her grumbling out in the room was very audible. He chuckled to himself and turned on the hot water. He stripped out of his pants and underwear and stepped under the hot spray, letting it wash over him. He luxuriated in the steam it produced for a while before quickly washing himself. He got out and instantly dried himself off with a burst of flames but realized that his clothes were filthy and probably shouldn't be worn again.

The dragon slayer groaned before wrapping a towel around his waist and walking back out into the room. Meredy was sitting on the bed and when he came out she grinned at him, her eyes roaming over his body. She teased, "I thought you weren't ready for anything yet Natsu!"

He ignored her and said, "Shower's all yours."

Natsu went over to where he'd set his clothes earlier and turned around to see Meredy still watching him with a grin on her face. He gave her a pointed look and she winked at him before walking into the bathroom. He could hear the bath running as he quickly put on his clothes. He was about to leave the room when the bath turned off and he felt a cold sensation in his foot. He moaned, "Not this again."

He suddenly shivered as it again felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water on his head. He groaned, "That's it. No more of this crap."

He walked over to the bathroom door trying to remember the layout of it exactly. He opened the door slightly and stuck his hand in; finger pointed at what he hoped was the bathtub. He could hear Meredy shriek, "Natsu get out of here! I'm not wearing anything!"

He felt a shiver go down his spine, whether from the cold or the mental image in his head he didn't know, as he called, "I'm tired of your ice baths so I'm doing something about it!"

He shot a small stream of fire from his pointed finger and hoped he hit the water in the tub. From Meredy's resultant shriek, the hiss of steam, and the warm feeling spreading over his body he knew he'd hit the mark. With a grin he said, "That's payback!"

He shut the door and when he did the warm sensation went away and he knew that she'd severed the sense link. Natsu quickly left the room and headed down to the kitchen to grab some food before Meredy could figure out what other prank she would pull on him. Jellal wasn't there so he made fried fish, pretty much the only thing he could make. He finished quickly and went up to Jellal's study to find him and learn the details of his plan.

Natsu poked his head and could see Jellal leaned over his desk, studying a large map of Fiore. He walked in and said, "Alright, what's the plan?"

Jellal looked up and said, "Let's wait until Meredy gets here, then I'll explain."

Natsu grimaced, "I might not be in a state where I'm going to get what you're explaining when she gets here."

The blue haired man gave him a questioning look and Natsu sat down on a couch before explained his actions earlier. Jellal burst out laughing at the end of his explanation and said, "Yeah Natsu, I think you're doomed."

Right as he said that, Natsu stiffened, smelling Meredy coming down the hall. He slowly turned around and watched as Meredy calmly walked into the room and sat down next to Natsu. Both Jellal and Natsu stared at her as she sat there before she said, "Well, get on with it Jellal. What's the plan?"

The blue haired man glanced at Natsu before coughing and saying, "Right, the plan. Well in the interest of saving time we're all going to go out this time. Meredy, you and Natsu are going to Oshibana town. Meredy knows the informants in the town so you should be able to get something out of them. I'm going to go to a few towns to the north. There's been some dark guild activity up there recently so I'm going to see what it is."

Meredy nodded and quickly left the room to go pack. Natsu stayed behind and said, "Oshibana is pretty close to Magnolia. I might run into mages from Fairy Tail."

Jellal shrugged, "Stay in the shadows and don't let them see you. Let Meredy take the lead, she's done this before."

Natsu nodded and turned to leave when he heard Jellal say behind him in a wry voice, "And don't take it to personally when she decides to take trains the entire way there."

Natsu looked back at him in horror and said, "No way…"

Jellal nodded and grinned, "Yep. Have fun!"

* * *

><p>Fun was the last thing Natsu was having as he sat across from Meredy in a private train compartment. They'd been on it for a few hours now and she was staring out the window with a small smile on her face while he was leaned up against the corner of the compartment trying not to puke on her. Meredy looked at him and said, "Enjoying yourself Natsu?"<p>

Natsu gave her a look that was meant to intimidate but came across as pitiful. He didn't dare open his mouth for fear of throwing up. She smiled and moved to sit next to him and indicated that he should put his head in her lap. He gratefully did and immediately the pain of the motion sickness began to lessen. She giggled at his eagerness, "Now, have we learned our lesson?"

He nodded and groaned out, "Don't mess with Meredy, she generally wins."

The pink haired woman gave a full throated laugh, "I was going to go with don't walk in on me while I'm in the bath but that works too."

He looked up at her from his position in her lap and said, "I didn't walk in on you, I just stuck a hand in to warm up your water a little bit."

She gave him a stern look, "Well don't do that again. Unless you want to come get in with me of course."

Meredy winked with her last statement which caused Natsu to blush. He rolled over and muttered, "Wake me up when we get there; I'm going to take a nap."

The fingers she used to run through his hair and gently massage his scalp helped speed up the process.

Later they night Natsu was following Meredy through Oshibana town to a hotel she knew. It was strange to him, to have the large Crime Sorciere cloak on and hiding his face. More strange was the fact that he wasn't drawing any odd looks. Generally when Natsu Dragneel, The Salamander, went to a town many people would stop and point or whisper. The dragon slayer thought to himself, 'I like this, now weird fan girls will stop asking for my autograph.'

They reached the hotel and Natsu discovered that it was above a seedy and rowdy bar. Meredy stopped for a moment outside and he muttered to her, "Really? I don't think we'll be able to sleep at this place."

She muttered back, "Well, wanted criminals can't really pick and choose, and the bar keeper here can keep his mouth shut."

He shrugged and gestured for her to lead on. She opened the door and Natsu entered, a roar of noise and the smell of cheap beer and vomit assaulted his senses. He did his best to ignore them and keep his head down, following Meredy through the bar. She walked up to the bar and slipped a small purse to the bartender. The man just nodded before going back to his duties. Meredy quickly led Natsu upstairs and to the room farthest down the hall. Unlocking the door, she slipped inside and he followed her.

The room had one small bed, a nightstand and a door led to a tiny bathroom. Natsu grimaced as he sat his backpack down, "Well this is a hell hole and no mistake."

Meredy pulled down her hood and let her long pink hair flow out of it freely, "Yeah, but it's better than a lot of other places I've stayed. There's a bed and a bathroom so I'll take it."

Natsu shrugged and said, "I'll take your word for it. Now, what do we need to do?"

Meredy sighed, "I need to go start finding my contacts and informants. You need to stay here for now."

The dragon slayer groaned, "I can't go with you?"

The girl answered very seriously, "No. I have a whole lot more experience in things like this. I know the best ways to get around and avoid Rune Knights. Plus, if I bring somebody new it might scare people off, so sorry, you're here for now."

Natsu sat down on the bed and sighed, "Fine, I'll wait here until you get back."

She walked over to him and ran a hand through his hair, "Don't worry, I won't be long tonight."

Natsu grinned at her, "I'll try not to burn down the bar."

She smacked him lightly but grinned, "Good, because otherwise I'm finding a nice hotel and you're sleeping out in the street."

With that she turned and left, and Natsu was alone in the seedy hotel room. He flopped back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling while he waited for his partner to return, 'Wow. I guess she is my partner now. Things sure do change.'

His mind rambled along in the same vein for about half an hour when all of a sudden the building shook. Natsu sat up just in time to see what looked like a net of energy fly up through the floor and turn the wood into little blocks. It was quickly rectified though by another blast of magic. He muttered, "I know this magic."

He ran downstairs and sure enough, Gildarts was sitting at the bar laughing and drinking with some patrons. Natsu realized he didn't have his hood on and quickly put it up, hoping that nobody would notice. He surreptitiously made his way over to the bar and slid into a seat next to Gildarts. He waved a hand for the bartender to come and ordered a shot of fire whiskey, knowing it would get Gildarts attention. It did and the large man looked down at him curiously, "I only know one person that actually likes drinking that stuff straight."

Natsu grinned beneath his hood and said, "Well old man, he sounds like a pretty awesome guy."

Gildarts grinned and shouted, "Why you little punk, what the hell are you doing here Na…"

When the man was about to shout his name Natsu quickly punched him in the face and hissed, "Don't say my name!"

Gildarts was confused but complied. He lost his grin and said, "What's wrong boy."

Natsu took the shot of alcohol and sighed saying, "Come up to my room, we have to talk."

Natsu led Gildarts up to his room and explained everything that had happened to him. When he was done Gildarts was shaking with fury. The man stood up and roared, "What the hell were those idiots thinking!"

Natsu said, "Damn Gildarts, keep it down, the idea is to not attract attention."

The man sat back down but was still trying to keep his anger in check. He said, "How the hell could they do that!"

The dragon slayer shrugged, "Bad judgment. Extreme stupidity. Momentary insanity. Pick your choice they probably all apply."

Gildarts muttered dangerously, "The master and I are going to have a very long talk when I get back to Magnolia."

Natsu asked him, "What are you doing here anyways? I figured you'd have been back to Fairy Tail by now and heard all about it."

The orange haired man had the decency to blush as he said, "The past six or seven months have been kind of a blur of bars and women for the most part. I haven't heard much news, or probably been sober enough to understand it for a while now."

Natsu laughed and shook his head, "Jeez old man, you don't change a bit do you."

Gildarts got a serious look on his face, "But you have. I'm surprised you nearly killed Erza."

Natsu felt a flash of rage flow through him at the mention of her name and he grated out, "She had it coming."

Gildarts sighed, "Granted, but killing doesn't solve problems Natsu."

The dragon slayer groaned and crossed his arms angrily, "I've already had this conversation with Meredy. I don't want to talk about it."

Natsu's old mentor waved his hands in a placating gesture and said, "Fine, fine. What are you going to do next anyways?"

The boy shrugged, "The same thing I've been doing. Stick with Crime Sorciere, get vengeance for Lucy, and then see what happens from there."

Gildarts gave him a sly grin then, "Does that last part involve that girl you told me about?"

The dragon slayer blushed, "I didn't tell you about that so you could tease me!"

This got a laugh out of Gildarts, "Then you shouldn't have told me at all brat."

The dragon slayer laughed as well, "Yeah you're probably right, but, what the hell should I do about it? I just feel so conflicted all the time."

Gildarts shrugged, "Do what you want to do, that's what I've been doing for pretty much my entire life, and I don't think I've been doing that badly."

Natsu sighed, "I just feel like I'm betraying Lucy's memory if I let her go and let things start with Meredy."

The large man clapped him on the back, nearly knocking him off the bed, and said, "Of course not. Do you think Lucy would want you to wallow in all this misery? That girl would kick your ass so hard right now it'd feel like it came from me. I should kick your ass."

Natsu started waving his arms and saying, "Whoa whoa, no need for ass kickings around here Gildarts."

The man was about to say something else when the door burst open and Meredy walked in holding a bag and saying, "Hey Natsu, I brought you back some… Who the hell is this!"

Natsu was about to introduce Gildarts but the orange haired man whistled and said, "Damn Natsu, she's cute, and you have the same hair! I want to see the children!"

Natsu slugged him in the head and he flew off the bed to crash into a wall, "Shut up old man!"

He turned to Meredy, "Sorry, that's Gildarts. He's Fairy Tail's ace. The thing is, he hasn't been to the guild since I was kicked out so he didn't know what all had happened."

Meredy sighed, "And you met him here of all places?"

Natsu shrugged, "It's the kind of place you'd expect him to be."

They both glanced over at the large man who was standing up now, rubbing his head and grinning, "Sorry, I couldn't help myself, you're just too cute."

Meredy put on a sickly sweet smile, "Has Natsu told you about his newly found fear of ice baths?"

Natsu paled and Gildarts looked at him curiously. The dragon slayer muttered, "Don't ask, but seriously, don't mess with her."

The crash-magic user eyed her up and down and then laughed, "You sure found yourself another feisty one Natsu."

He walked to the door and said, "I'm going to head back to Fairy Tail right now and give them a piece of my mind. And Natsu?"

"Yeah?"

"Seal the deal with this one. You never know when life might take her away."

He quickly left and closed the door behind him, leaving the pink haired duo blushing crimson.

Meredy stuttered, "I-i-is he always like that?"

Natsu grumbled, "Damn old man. One of these days I'm going to kick that perverts ass."

He sat down on the bed and looked at the bag she was holding, "So what did you bring me back?"

She handed him the bag and said, "Just a bit of food, I figured you'd be pretty hungry."

He smiled at her and said, "Thanks."

She smiled back and said, "I'm going to take a quick shower and then try and get some sleep. I found my contacts and got the word out about the information I needed but it'll take a day or two before they have anything."

Natsu nodded but didn't speak, his mouth full of food. The girl laughed at him and then went to take her shower. In short order she was back and ready for bed. Natsu had already finished his food and tossed it in the small trash bin and laid down to wait on her. The girl came out in nothing but underwear and an oversized shirt that went almost down to her knees. She flipped off the light and crawled into bed with Natsu.

The dragon slayer moved over to allow her some room but found that she was pressed tightly against him in the small bed they were sharing. He could feel the curves of her body against him and her hot breath on his face. She whispered, "So, did you two have a nice chat about me?"

Natsu chuckled, "Yeah we did. I told him everything, he's pretty much like a second dad to me after Igneel."

He felt the girl press even closer to him as she said, "What did he say?"

Her lips were inches from his as he said, "He told me to do what I want to do."

"And what do you want to do?"

Instead of saying anything, he closed the last few inches between them and kissed her softly. He could feel the surprise and tension in her body at his action, but slowly it faded as she let herself be drawn into the kiss. He kissed her tenderly, lightly moving his lips against hers, and not letting it deepen into something more. After a few moments he broke away and looked into her eyes for a reaction.

She didn't say anything, just wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in closer, resting her head in the crook of his neck. He slowly wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair, letting her scent overwhelm his senses. He whispered, "Goodnight Meredy."

He got back, "Goodnight Natsu."

Some hours later in the middle of the night the dragon slayer awoke with a start. He could hear light thumping noises coming from downstairs and when he scented the air the smell of oil and metal filled his nose. Moments later a fist pounded on their door and someone shouted, "We know you're in there! Come out if you want to live!"


End file.
